hearing on the affordable care act. minutes, we will talk with a member of the committee, texas congressman green and -- gene good morning, everyone, and welcome to "the washington .ournal e healthcare.gov tough contractors -- top contractors will be asked who is responsible for the glitches and what role the white house played in it. live coverage on c-span at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. president obama will try to pivot from the health-care law today, making a statement this morning to urge congress to act on immigration reform. live coverage of the president 10: 30 thist

morning. we will stay on the affordable care act and get your experience with the law. -- 202-5 85-3 881. democrats, 202-585-3880. , 20 2-585-3882. journal@c-ail us, span.org. let me begin with the front page of "the atlanta journal- constitution." "health law is delayed." the deadline has been pushed back amid technical issues. this is what they report. from the associated press -- "the white house said late wednesday that it would allow purchasers more time to sign up without facing penalties.

so that from the white house last night. the penalty being postponed. both the "los angeles times" this morning -- "health-care rollout under friendly fire."

that from two papers this morning. we are getting your take and we want to hear your experience with the affordable care act not just since the launch of the website but since the law was put on the books in 2010. what has been your experience with it? good, bad, or otherwise, we want to get your take this morning. the white house has created a youtube website, posting stories from people who have had good experiences with the website. republicans plan to rollout their own website where people can go and talk about the healthcare.gov site. going outside of washington today to get your take. dave first in louisiana, an independent caller. caller: how are you today? ma'am, i have insurance, but the

reason i am calling in is this great fixation with the rollout. if we would look back in the history when social security came into play in medicare, we had these same type of problems. reason, everybody is jumping on the bandwagon, it did not come out like it should have, but they have failed to realize that there was some good that was done. if we would just take our time and hold our breath, just long enough to make sure that this thing works, we would see that it would be something good for everybody. host: have you had any personal experience, or friends or family who have had experience with the affordable care act? caller: i have a brother who got turned down because of a pre- existing condition, and he got through with flying colors. i know for sure

that we are happy now that he has insurance. he can go to see a doctor. ,hat should be the big picture people being able to go and see a doctor when they need to see a doctor. host: ok, dave. let's hear from debbie, next, from burlington, north carolina, a republican caller. what is your experience with the affordable care act? caller: i recently got my insurance quotes, and my rate is going up $96 per month, so we are close -- we are talking close to 1200 dollars a year. the affordable care act is not affordable. this thing is a turkey at no amount of dressing will make it palatable. host: are you interested in watching today's hearings? we lost her. patricia, louisiana, democratic caller. caller: good morning.

thatended to convey pertaining to the original quality -- the original quandary -- the initial quandary is not directed by obamacare, therefore it is indicative for the rescinding of obamacare pertaining to it is egregious to admonish the populace for not enrolling in the health care system. i wanted to advocate a senator's proposal pertaining to literally driving a gratuitous health care system indicative for the populace to invest, to facilitate practical gains. that proposal was proposed a few years prior, but it was never passed in the house of representatives.

i do not comprehend the reason it was rejected because it is the most effective matter to facilitate for an impetus for the populace to enroll in a health-care system. host: on twitter, ron tweets in -- "i wonder how the contractor will spin it so that the glitches are bush's fault." hhs secretary kathleen sebelius will not be on capitol hill today, but she will be there next week on wednesday, october 30, testifying. we will have coverage of that as well. "washingon journal" early. --weet from michael tackett

"blame game starts. obamacare vendor says u.s. government the ultimate responsible party." pat from pennsylvania, a democratic caller. is truly astonishing when you begin to truly evaluate the obamacare system, and i guarantee you there is probably sabotaged, massive groups of the websiteteaming system. don't get me wrong, i will get free health care for the rest of my life. reality, if i were selfish than i would say they should not be entitled to health care. we can pay out $85 billion to bonuses. i think it is only fair that we provide some access to people for health care that is affordable. and i got to tell you, the republicans were not squawking

when george bush signed into law a pharmaceutical bill that cost the american people $300 billion -plus per year. just shocking, the hypocrisy of the republican party in this. host: we mentioned earlier that democrats are concerned about the glitches with the website and have asked the administration to delay the penalty for those that do not get insurance in time. storyco tweeted out this this morning -- "senator joe manchin working on legislation to delay fines for those who do not enroll in obamacare." "the atlanta journal- constitution" had it, the deadline extended for health coverage -- six extra weeks before the penalties kick in. that in "the washington post" this morning, too.

if you are interested in that. other headlines in the front pages of the newspaper on the health-care law -- "the wall --eet journal" host: that is happening, as we told you. and then in "the washington times" --

this we turn to all of you morning, going outside washington, to get your experience with the affordable care act. since its inception, have you liked the law so far? have you tried to enroll? 202, 585-3881. 3880crats 202-585- . gary, good morning. caller: i just wonder why the one side -- all they can talk about in this affordable care act is what it is going to do. we give you this, we give you that, and they will never talk about price. where the republicans hammer away at costs, which is true

figures. but you will never hear a democrat talk math. all he wants to talk is what else can we give you. culturewe are raising a of dependency that just keeps growing, growing, and growing. host: rod in tennessee, a democratic caller. hi, rod. rod, you're on the air. good morning. on the air. welcome to the conversation. let me move on. karla in ohio, independent caller. you doing today? thank you for taking my call. insured, i have always been self insured. since i have been giving a lot of ash getting a lot of information from my carrier, i called the person i originally bought insurance from, my sales insurance person. up $70 ance has gone

month starting in december. i had to stay with my carrier who i have had for years. , myonly other choices navigator told me my premiums would go up substantially in till 2018. -- until 2018. we will be forced into oh, care -- we will be forced into obamacare, forced, everyone. my only choice would be to go into obamacare. that means the government would pay my $3600 a year. my deductible would then go up to $6,000 per year and i would pay a couple hundred dollars a year. i do not think it is fair for other working people to pay for an individual like me for $3600 a year for me to get the same thing. so my insurance is now going to be going up one third extra.

this is a broken system and it is not fair for people that take no responsibility for themselves. other people that make more money are going to be paying for me and everybody else. host: we appreciate you calling in and sharing your story. what has been your experience with the affordable care act? "the washington times" french page -- front page about what the speaker had to say. here he is in his own words. [video clip] been onocus lately has the website. clearly there are problems with the website, but the problems go much further than that. how about the report over the last couple of days of the hundreds of thousands of americans who are finding out that they are going to lose their coverage because the plans

they have today do not qualify under obamacare. when you begin to look at these hundreds of thousands of people, i think what you will see at the end of october are more americans are going to lose their health insurance than are going to sign up at these exchanges. .his is a very serious problem it is affecting our economy, and it is affecting the ability of the american people to find a job that will help them take care of them and their families. speaker john boehner talking yesterday about the rollout of the health-care law and healthcare.gov. that will be the top du jour the houseng when committee hears from the top contractors. "if your state did not set up an things easy for you, blame your governor for forcing you onto the fed site." "the new york times" this

morning, it says -- it is a lengthy piece

inside "the new york times," if you are interested in reading it. this chart shows the national average of monthly premiums for a 50-year-old buying a silver numberries based on the insured in the individual place of residence. right here if there is one insurer in your place of residence, a 50-year-old buying a silver plan has a minimum $200, aof a little over maximum of over $600. as the number of insurers grows, you can see how that decreases. we are getting your take, your experience with the affordable care act. john in trenton, new jersey, a republican caller. what has been your experience? caller: hi, greta. i am on medicare. i am just -- host: we are listening, john.

caller: i think the tax penalty is kind of a canard. the reason for that is because the irs can only connect -- collect a penalty from your tax refund. the 47% of people who do not pay income tax, they cannot collect the penalty from them. the 56% of us who do, if we adjust our w-4 so we don't get a refund and we have to pay a little bit towards the end of our taxes, how is the irs going to collect the money? just my fault on that particular part of the law. if i am wrong, i would like someone to correct me. host: you are saying that the news this morning that the white house has agreed to a six week penalty, theree is really no there there? caller: right. i think the whole thing is kind

-- both ends are trying to make their political points, and that is the whole shame in this whole thing. everybody is playing politics with this, and it is affecting people's lives. host: are there parts of the health-care law you like? caller: not particularly. you get all of these wonderful calls of people getting helped. helps some people, but then other people have to pay more, so it seems like the people who are paying more are helping the people paying less, and it seems unfair to meet that you are taking money from one group to give to another group. host: in other news, front page of "the new york times" --

host: this piece goes on to say that last week, glenn greenwald, who had worked for "the guardian," included a deal with one of the ebay founders that aims to set up a new media platform to publicize other revelations about the data that

mr. greenwald now possesses." so there is more to come on this new site that is being set up by one of the ebay founders. in "the guardian," the same headline this morning. obama: are youto bugging my phone?" cnn, reports that the u.s. ambassador has been summoned to meet the german foreign minister over concerns of monitoring the chancellor's phone. all that happening this morning. we go to gym in fairfield, connecticut, a democratic caller. hanging on the line. go ahead. caller: i am in connecticut. i presently have my own

insurance privately. on october 1, i logged into the state exchange. i did not have any trouble navigating the system. i enrolled but i did not pull the trigger and purchase a plan because when i saw the prices of the premiums, i was shocked. i tried to navigate around the system to roll back and redo the expense, and then i realized i was entitled to certain credits. at that point i was able to see a lower premium, but one of the deficiencies of the exchange was you were not able to compare side-by-side various plans and the future of each plant. -- of each plan. i called the helpdesk and i did not get a lot of good support. i do not think they are adequately change, -- they are adequately trained, but they did try to help me. point go forward at some

before january 1 and purchase a plan, but i also don't know if my existing private plan, if i will be a will to carry that forward. i have not received any medication from blue cross saying it would be active or canceled. and force me into the exchange. either way, i want to see the affordable care act succeed and hopefully step forward to a single-payer system. host: what do you think about delaying this individual mandate for a certain time, extending the deadline a little bit? i think we could delay on that if we get the federal exchange up and running. we can delay that decision. i think there should be a cutoff date may be by december 1 before we made a decision. the federal government should hire the person who created the connecticut exchange because that person was involved in the massachusetts exchange.

get someone who really has success in this, but someone with no success in it. hire the hurson from connecticut to work on the medical exchange. many do you know how insurance exchanges are competing in connecticut? caller: when i saw it, there --e austro participant that participating in it. it was very streamlined, simple to navigate. host: so you have already been on, no glitches? caller: there are glitches as far as backing up, as far as user error. error, call that user which is normal. it is a new site. thank you very much. host: the aca is not a mess because it is obamacare, obamacare is a mess because it is universal health care. island,sterly, rhode

democratic caller. i have wondered many effect this is going haveve on the people who problems, the so-called law. because kristen scientist and -- because christian scientist and other religions have a powerful of version -- a powerful of version -- a powerful aversion to medicine that they would have to have. they would have to buy insurance

, part and parcel of their life. not to mention about this , it intrudesystem on the privacy of american citizens. personally, the first amendment right of american citizens are going to be violated. not to some people, but violated very egregiously. host: i want to give you some other headlines here this morning. yesterday we told you the president had met with tiestan's premier to mend there. "the washington post" has this on their front page story.

"during the early years of the campaign, the cia even used pakistani airstrips for its predator fleet." "the new yorkm times this morning." asked the meeting, he had mr. obama to halt american drone

strikes. the president did not respond publicly, saying that the two sides needed to find ways to fight terrorism that respect pakistan's sovereignty and the concerns of both countries." the front page of "usa today," the next fight for the d party -- for the tea party on capitol backers sentparty targets,ts -- set new farm subsidies." on the front page of

"usa today dea." the front page, "hot seat for rib site holders -- for website builders." we will have live coverage on c- span at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. we will and -- we will and the washington journal a bit early to cover that. christine, a republican caller from michigan. hi, christine. caller: ok, what i want to say is i think it is truly not about health care, it is about power. know, under this, there is nothing that they cannot dictate to us of what we are going to need to do. my husband and i went down last week, because we do not have a computer, to basically check it out, i guess you would say. what we found out was our

$480 a would be like month. my husband is on disability and is only getting $21,000 a year. so i don't understand how they think people like us are going to be able to afford that anyway. to me, it is very unaffordable. we have no extra money at the end of the month, so that is basically what i wanted to say. host: christine, what do you think should be done? you are a republican. should republicans try to delay or defund the law? not haveersonally i do a problem with them defunding it if they can do it, but it just seems like there are so many other avenues that they could have taken if they really wanted to help people. they could have expanded medicaid or medicare, for one thing, without going through all

of this conglomeration that i do not even think they understand. effort toics of the repeal the law, defund it, delay it -- what is the alternative? the republicans are offering as an alternative? caller: i really do not, actually. i am not sure i have really heard an alternative. but myself, i think that they could have expanded medicaid and medicare and included more people in that, because those systems are already set up. that would have been very simple . to me, of course, i am not the government -- but that would have been a very simple solution, and then they could have picked up these people that cannot afford insurance, basically. we have always had insurance, and then when obamacare first got past, the company my husband he lost his

insurance january 1. he has a lot of health issues. host: thank you for sharing your story. we will keep getting your take, your experience with the affordable care act. joining us on the first -- joining us on the phone is jeff shapiro, a columnist for "the richmond times dispatch," giving tonight'sew of gubernatorial debate. who has the most to gain and the most to lose in the debate tonight? recent pollsst suggest that mr. mcauliffe, the democratic nominee, is way ahead. nominee, kenn trichet l.a., clearly playing nelli,up -- ken cucci

hoping that tonight he can change the narrative. one of the things we have been recent hoursof in is a new, fresh, and more vigorous tax on health care reform. effortems to be more an to rally the republican base than really reach to vast numbers of swing voters, who typically decide elections in virginia. host: what have you seen in the past few hours from the kuchen ellie -- from the cuccin campaign? host: another statement from operatives trying to link them off-up in the -- to link the in the obamacare rollout to mr. mcauliffe.

the republicans who control the house of delegates are dead set say, andt, or so they it promises to be a big flashpoint if mr. mcauliffe is elected. what we are basically seeing here is guilt by association. terry mcauliffe has had a lead here, and do you suspect that that continues, or does that narrow as we get closer to election day? likely that it will narrow somewhat as voters come home. the biggest issue in this campaign seems to be mr. cuccinelli himself. he is a tea party conservative republican, make no apologies for that. however, when he ran for attorney general in 2009, racking up over one million votes, it was quite clear he was not subject to as close scrutiny

by the electorate. int scrutiny has elevated the years he has spent in the attorney general's office with a number of high-profile crusades, if you will. one of the first attorneys general in the country to challenge the aca, a big over ae in court researching climate change, and continuing efforts to restrict abortion in virginia. that shows up consistently in the polls in terms of an enormous gender gap. mr.n are breaking to mcauliffe by double digits, and this seems to be largely a consequence of the republican nominee's outspoken opposition to abortion rights. host: are these independents that are breaking for mcauliffe?

who are undecided? the women who are breaking to mr. mcauliffe are not only democrats, there are a good number of republican and independent female voters. for them, a big issue of course is abortion rights. libertarianbout the candidate in this race? who is he? what role might he play? , who ranert sarvis unsuccessfully a few years ago, seems to be a big drag for mr. kuchen ellie. the polls again are really curiosities, and they suggest running -- that he is in low double digits. he is presenting problems for inelli in terms of drawing away libertarian republican votes. he has not had a chance to

participate in any of these debates because he has not really maintained a double-digit standing in the polls. we are expecting to see him tonight in blacksburg where he may be live tweeting from virginia tech. host: how will the government shutdown play out in tonight's debate. guest: about 26% of its economy is directly drawn from federal spending, military, and civilian. the been assistance of uncle sam touches the lives of many virginians. as a result, there are many virginians who were very upset over this shutdown. it is not just those who work

for the federal government or federal contractors, largely concentrated in northern virginia, but all along the i-95 corridor, down the atlantic seacoast, the southeastern region, also a big factor down there. it is clearly driving up the negatives for the republicans. lli has gone great lengths to distance himself from what occurred in washington. however, he is doing this at the same time, relying on such important national republican figures as ted cruz, and also rand paul. , finally jeff shapiro ro, the "richmond times" did not endorse a candidate.

why not? what does this say about this race? of thehe editorial page "richmond times dispatch" for the past 40 years has shown great preference for republican gubernatorial nominees. it has not endorsed a democrat for governor in 10 elections. so it is widely assumed to have been a default republican newspaper, certainly in gubernatorial election years. the conventional wisdom is the silence of "the times dispatch" on this governor's race is an indication of continuing republican discontent with mr. cuccinelli. schapiro, thank you for your time and for setting up this debate. go to c-span.org to find out when the debate will air on our network.

a story about the health-care law -- one democrat yesterday talked about the website. about becerra was asked the website's problems. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> should somebody be held accountable for the missteps in this website not performing the way that it has? >> i believe somebody should be held accountable. we should find out where the glitches were and find out what we should do, but absolutely. when you hold a position, you should be held accountable. just like those folks responsible for the government shutdown should be responsible

-- should be held responsible. 800,000-plusw americans not being able to go to work as a result of the government shutdown, those responsible should be held responsible. and those responsible for the website not working as well as it should should be held responsible as well. democrat xavier becerra talking about accountability for the website. topic when thee house energy and commerce committee gavels in. they will be asking most certainly what role the white house had to play in the glitches we are seeing. don in new baltimore, michigan, independent caller. caller: how are you doing? good morning. this is what i do for a living. i own health insurance agencies, we specialize in the individual market. i got a little bit of expertise at this.

what is going to happen here -- it has happened here in michigan -- everybody that has a blue cross individual policy has had their insurance canceled as of december 31. unfortunately, the exchanges have not worked here yet from the very beginning. everyonea reason why at some point is going to get their individual policy canceled, and that is because there are these 10 essential benefits that their policies have to have. one of the benefits i guarantee you that they do not have on the individual policies is pediatric services, including oral and vision care. 99% of individual policies do not have maternity coverage, so at some point everybody's individual policy will be canceled and they will have to get a policy that had actuary values and the essential benefits, the affordable care act. host: charlotte, republican. caller: good morning.

i am calling about what i think about the affordable care act. i believe it is unconstitutional even though the supreme court has ruled that it is constitutional. when anything is not for everyone, if people have been and parties have been exempted from it, then everybody should it.xempted from we are sliding into a country of socialism or communism, and i think under the constitution there are laws that say that anything that congress passes for themselves should be available to all the people. host: all right, charlotte. in other things to watch today, president obama will try to pivot from all this talk on the affordable care act to immigration this morning at around 10:30 a.m. eastern time. we will have live coverage on c- span2.

also the detroit and crips he hearing begins today, and the governor is set to testify. journal" wall street -- "governor to testify on detroit's need to file bankruptcy." and you heard about jpmorgan's settlement. doj ramps up i mortgages -- ramps up bank mortgages probe." investors large and small stand to foot the bill for the 13 billion dollars. "the washington post" this morning, editorial board coming out against the settlement, saying it is a bad example, and the settlement will not solve the financial system's problems. those stories, and then there is

this from the money section of usa today about mortgages -- rising rates, prices changing bank standards. lending for mortgages getting easier, and then there is this from the business section of "the washington post." "debt is outpacing savings for many. similar headlines to what we saw before the financial crisis. that in the papers this morning. speaking of immigration reform, a couple of headlines i want to show you on that. hear from "the wall street " --nal post host: then there is this from

-"thewashington times" - calendar working against any sort of large comprehensive legislation." jonesboro, georgia, democratic caller. what has been your experience with the affordable care act? caller: i have insurance, but my wife recently lost her insurance . the thing about it is that it seems as if -- host: richard, are you there? we are listening. yes.r: when she calls over the phone to were going to mail whichformation by mail,

would take several working days. i am thinking about also, the -- iticans are the ones like the next president after president obama will be another democratic president. host: this conversation continues after a short break. gene green, congressman from , on the affordable care act. and author and syndicated beumnist ann coulter will here to talk about her new book. we will be right back.

just hours after the japanese attack on pearl harbor and before heard husband addressed some nation, first lady elenor roosevelt was on the radio talking with america. >> good evening ladies and i'm speaking tonight at a very serious moment in our history. with theet is meeting president. the state department and army and navy officials have been with the president all afternoon. the japanese ambassador was talking to the president at the very time that japan's airships were bombing our citizens in hawaii and the philippines and sinking one of our transports loaded with lumber on its way to hawaii. by tomorrow morning, the members of congress will have a full report and be ready for action. people,eantime, we, the

are prepared for action. for months now, the knowledge that something of this kind might happen has been hanging over our heads. and yet it seemed impossible to believe, impossible to drop the everyday things of life and feel there was only one thing which was important -- preparation to meet an enemy, no matter where he struck. that is all over now, and there is no more uncertainty. we know what we have to face, and we know that we are ready to face it. >> watch our program on eleanor roosevelt at our website, c- span.org/firstladies. liventinue our series monday as we look at first lady bess truman. c-span's student videocam competition asks what is the most important issue congress should consider in 2014. make a five to seven minute

documentary. the competition is open from middle and high school students with the grand prize of $5,000. this year we have doubled the number of winners and total prizes. need more information? visit studentcam.org. "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome back to the table congressman gene green, democrat from texas, who sits on an important committee -- what are your concerns with the rollout of the federal insurance exchange? guest: we have had glitches and big problems. that me first say i come from a district in texas where we have some of the highest numbers of

uninsured. our district in urban houston is one of the highest congressional districts in the country with people who work but do not get insurance through their employers, so the rollout of the affordable care act is important. to texas and my district in particular. we have done events and will do more events to help. the computer glitches, we will find out from the contractor. next week we will have the leader of health and human services. in 2003, it was under a republican majority. our first oversight hearing was march of 2006. some of the hidden -- some of the same headlines we are seeing with the rollout of prescription drugs for seniors. administration said last night that they will delay the penalty by six weeks. give a six week extension before

people would see that $95 fine for not getting insured. they have that authority under the law and i am glad that a are willing to take it because here we are the first month into it, and we have not had success in rolling out the internet, for example. we did it in 2003 for seniors for a smaller population. now we have a lot more and there are problems. i am hoping computer folks can get it together quickly because in our district we are going to do an event in november, a large event. i was hoping to use computers. now they are telling us, our local navigator is saying we are going to have to do it by paper. it is much easier to show options and things like that if you are on a computer screen. problems persist and people cannot enroll on the website, are you open to a delay of the individual mandate? you need tonk

separate it. the individual mandate is important because, like in texas, we are required to have liability insurance. the individual mandate is part of the law. that could be delayed, but i want to first see where we are at. we want to encourage people to sign up, even if you have to sign up with paper. we will see you over the next few months and see how it works. i am glad the penalty will be waived for six weeks. we have to be flexible. we want to make it work. we do not want to penalize somebody who cannot get a product because the service is not there. hearing, hhs secretary sebelius will testify next week. but this first hearing -- and there have been others -- but is it a mistake that she will not be there today? guest: i wish she could, but there was a scheduling issue, and i thought we could put off today's hearing and hear from

the secretary first. four majorto these contractors, although from the information i am receiving they are going to blame each other. then maybe we will have that testimony so we can then have questions based on their testimony for the secretary next week. host: there was a tweet put out this morning, "the blame game has a gun, but the contractors blame game has begun, but the contractors will say ultimately it is the government's fault." guest: a number of years ago we spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to upgrade the irs. from what i understand, the system never had worked. i think if we are going to learn something from this, even from the 2003 rollout, there were problems. there were some bad headlines. we need to look at our

procurement system for high tech for the federal government. we should have learned that in 2003 and we will relearn it in 2013. yesterday democrats were briefed by hhs officials about the rollout of the website. what did you learn? guest: we had a caucus meeting and i basically learned from being on the committee, some of the things we have been working on and trying to follow. we have been working closely in texas -- of course, we have a texas.l exchange in that is one of our problems. the national what is having problems, but the states have picked up their own exchanges, we are seeing success in maryland, california, even in kentucky. it is a state that is having success in rollouts, so maybe we need to learn what is happening, what is working in the states. house speaker john boehner yesterday said the honeymoon is over, and people are starting to lose their insurance.

people are getting kicked off in preparation for the exchange, for the marketplace. guest: i don't think there was ever a honeymoon. i don't think the republican majority in the house ever was married to the affordable care act. three yearsthe last 40-something times to repeal it. i am glad today we are having our first real oversight on how the rollout is. up until now, our committee has only had hearings to repeal or defund it. now we are going to say we are doing our congressional responsibility now. we should have been doing it earlier. host: what did hhs tell you yesterday about the when the website glitches will be fixed? teams have been organized but the white house to deal with the problems. wish that had been done earlier in the year. our committee did have a hearing in september with these same

contractors, and they said they were going to be ready in september. obviously they were not on october 1, and they are still not ready. it is a combination of responsibility. hhs, the contractors that we pay a lot of money to to be able to do this. host: so there is no timeline yet, no date as to when this will be fixed? timeline, wehad a would say it right now. next weekill get that when we hear from the secretary. i don't think we will hear that from the contractors. you first, is up for from texas, a contractor -- a republican. caller: good morning. guest: i represent just south of spring. caller: i have attended some of your meetings and some of those

by ms. jackson lee. i want to give you an example of what is taking place here. ed, myfter obamacare pass $321 per month health care premium, which included medicare, supplemental, and prescription drug, went to $528 a month. went to $727 ait month, and i have just notified that, starting in january, i will be paying somewhere in the range of $12,000 per year for my health care. i am 70 years old, single, excellent health. why are my premiums so high? , i am alsot of all over 65, and the affordable care

act does nothing to indicate -- to hinder medicare or supplementals you have to buy for medicare. i have to admit before the affordable care act, the supplementals, they are not regulated by the federal government. the policies, you have certain different levels, but those are related by the state of texas. other states have their own regulation. in yourrease supplementals has nothing to do with the affordable care act. oppose the affordable care act, but you and i are not affected by it. we have to sign up for medicare, even if you are in congress. -- your premiums have nothing to do with the affordable care act. the affordable care act did help medicare because you are getting hopefully annual exams with no co-pays. doughnutription drug

hole is closing. those of us on medicare actually benefit, but it has no impact on medicare. a tweet -- "car insurance is for states. no constitutional authority for the federal government to force you to buy a product." guest: we have to maybe fill out the application by paper. the last time we had a rollout was one medicare was rolled out in 1965. i would think we would go back and see some terrible headlines back then. we are probably going to use paper applications. these people will see they have applied for it. they do not have to worry about being punished. host: one more tweet. guest: i agree.

they do not let members of congress go out on the bidding process. we leave that to the administration. there were problems in 2003 with the prescription job plan for seniors. we are hoping to get through this. problem but the first rollout. aboutare you concerned waste and duplication of money? guest: congress should be concerned about waste in every contract. that is one of the questions we will find out today. how did they segment the market? did this contractor work with this one? host: laura is next from philadelphia, democratic caller. caller: good morning.

thank you for taking my call. i finally got through. i have a question for you but first i have a comment. there are so many people calling in with ms. information. i have gone to so many seminars before it started.to get information and lot of those people should have gotten the same information i got. is woman said her insurance $300 a month. that out-of-pocket occurs if you incur a doctor's bill. once your doctor bill nichols $3000 for that year, you pay it out. if you are not a sick person, you do not touch that out of pocket. i have not paid a $2000 out-of- pocket yet.

it only occurs if you are very sick. $3000 and your insurance company picks up after that. they need to get that information straight. the democratic party needs to be more responsible in getting the information out to the people. the people in this country are getting the information from fox news and ann coulter. get the correct information. you should be on the talk shows every sunday, just like the republicans do. you and they should be on these talk shows every sunday and get the information out to the people. stop letting them control the news. all they are doing is telling lies. thank you for taking my call. guest: i help all the networks are fair and balanced.

we have done defense in my districts. old,u are over 65 years this does not impact you. your insurance rates could go up for supplemental long before the affordable care act. one of the things we're seeing, we're hearing people are being dropped from insurance. and a lot of policies do not comply with the affordable care act. those insurance companies are dropping those plans because they are streamlining. host: here is a headline from reuters six days ago. they report the technology behind the website was not ready -- would not be ready october 1.

host: is there anyway way to get some of this money back for the taxpayers? guest: we have inspector general's and we will do that. i can't read you some of the headlines from the 2003 prescription job plan. t isall a joint plan -- i called a drug plan maze. some say some old die for lack of medicine. prescription plan part d gets an early f. hopefully we will look back and say we were able to do it. when you rollout a major plan -- obamacare is much bigger than what we try to do in 2003. host: from new york, go ahead. caller: this is not a talking

point. president obama said if i like my health care policy, i could keep it. if i like my doctor, i can keep it. i got a notice from my insurance company. i am off of it at the end of december. i feel like i have been lied to. guest: is your insurance policy under the new york law? where -- few policies are you getting your insurance through the state law? host: i got it through univera. he promised me i could keep my health care policy. that promise has been broken. i am finding frustration in dealing with the website, having to jump through hoops. i call my private insurance and

they are much more helpful in helping me deal with what i need to do. my premiums might go down but guess what -- it makes people subservient to me. they are paying out of their pocket to lower my premiums. where in the constitution does the government have the authority - constitution, the supreme court ruled the affordable care act was constitutional. ofcan have our opinion anything, whether it is constitutionally viable. nine supreme court justices make that decision. there is a lot of confusion. the president had no control over the state of new york. we have the affordable care act because in texas, we have some

sorry insurance policies. you could go buy high deductibles. it did not work for you until you had some kind of catastrophic illness. now you will get a quality product. if you are over 65, it doesn't impact you. host: jerry in kentucky, republican caller. caller: id and live in houston in the great state of texas. guest: we do not call to the great state because that would be redundant. line and iid get on did get an account the first day of october and it took 14 hours. i am in kentucky and that put me into kentucky connect. i have already received

everything i need. my insurance is going to cost me nothing, zero. i think that people need to be more patient. the great state of kentucky is where i was born. my problem is that since i have put my phone number and my information in the computer, i everybody, sale calls a day.nd 12 i never put my information in this computer before. that is the problem. they have hacked in already. i think the insurance program needs to be given a chance. my concern is what has happened to my information. guest: i agree with you.

you went on the website. congratulations to kentucky. they have had some good results. i wish the state of texas had our own local state plan but we don't so it have to do with a national plan. your information on that should be privileged, whether it is your social security number or your phone number. i would like to get more information on that. sounds like you have insurance through the kentucky plan. host: let me read the piece from om "the washington post." karl rove says this

is it realistic? guest: it may be delayed because of the problems we are having and the rollout. karl rove never supported the affordable care act. the individual mandate came from a heritage society study in the early 1990's that people should be responsible for their own health care. host: michael is next from pennsylvania, democratic caller. caller: good morning. i have a comment and a question. i am disgusted with both parties and the president. you guys are like a bunch of kids up there. i am a small business owner.

if i made a mistake of this magnitude, i would be going after some to get my money back because this is ridiculous. guest: i think you'll see that in hindsight. orther it is the contractors summon that had a relationship that we expected to have more from them, we need to find out who is responsible. ehen we rolled out th prescription drug plan, we had some of the same problems for the first few months. a lot of folks did not have access to computers at the time. we borrowed computer rooms with volunteers to help from community colleges. we're supposed to have these navigators now. host: is that justification?

there were problems with other rollouts, so people should give the administration some slack? guest: i agree, we should learn from our mistakes. and that is what we are doing now. i do not think the contractors were prepared. we had contractors in september who said they were ready to go and obviously they were not. host: there was a report saying they are not ready to go. guest: in hindsight, we will hold responsible those folks in the private sector that received these contracts. dogoal is to make sure they not get paid for what they did not do. host: if it was interference from the white house or the role of the administration that brought about these glitches, should someone resign?

there is no talk about kathleen sibelius resigning. guest: we will find out. we will hold these oversight hearings in the house and senate and we will find out who made the decision. i am sure that the secretary is not the one who picked that contractor. the federal procurement process has been in law for years. host: what is your confidence level in secretary sebelius? guest: i have worked with her on lots of levels. i think she was a good governor in kansas. she has experienced in dealing with insurance. i think we will hear that she wants to get it right. host: when kathleen sebelius testifies next week, c-span will be covering that hearing. we will end today's "washington journal" a bit early.

let's go to jay from asheville, north carolina. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have a comment and a question. confused ande irresponsible construction of this website, what makes the democrats in congress and the obama administration think that illegal aliens are going to buy insurance coverage? guest: the affordable care act has not allowed anybody here undocumented to buy health care insurance. i had some doctors asked me why we were not going to cover illegals. we never would have passed the bill. undocumented are not allowed to get health care under the affordable care act because they

do not have a legal social security number. host: bonnie from florida. caller: yes, hello. wasn't the last bill you sent to the senate saying let's delay it a year include the senate and the staffers on it? 7200 athat you only got person but you shut down the government because you did not want to be on it. guest: the law was passed in 2010 included members of congress and our staff. the members of congress and our staff get assistance as part of our pay package from the federal government. that is what is going to happen. if you are under 65, you go through the d.c. exchange.

i was a state-- legislator in texas. texas pays for insurance for their employees. represent a lot of great companies. they all pay for their health insurance for their employees. federalthe same for employees and members of congress and our staff. host: and a lot of papers are d cruz.ing senator terry c guest: we had a meeting last week and it was a cordial meeting. we obviously disagree on the affordable care act and many other things. but we want to do what is right for texas and sometimes we do have differences of opinions. host: he is popular there.

what he did is popular. guest: i was at a democratic meeting monday night and you cannot find anybody who supported senator cruz. they told me they were embarrassed. he had a great rally in houston. i would expect nothing less. senatorprofile piece on ted cruz's wife. this is what they report. that, "aine on goptarian mba beside a conservative." "the new york times" reports that democrats in the senate try to make an issue of where

health cruz gets his insurance during the government shutdown. "ted is on my health care plan. that is what works." nina is last. hi, nina. caller: hi. guest: how are you doing? caller: i am doing fine. i used to live in houston. justnd your wife -- i really appreciate everything and still do that you are doing for your constituents in texas. we wish you guys could get some of these people, these republicans out. they are giving out false information. this lady coming on after you --

took a a picture that i few and your wife, me and my best friend. i lost or six years ago to cancer. people over flood the emergency room's and things. what is the difference where taxpayers are still writing off a whole lot more than having the affordable care act to go through. when i hear people call in and of i have a combined income $21,000 less, the president has said there are programs where you would not have to pay. host: i'm going to jump in because we're running out of time. guest: the affordable care act we opal depopulate a lot of our emergency rooms. are showing up

at the emergency room with sinus infections and things like that. emergency law, the rooms have to treat and stabilize them. we are hoping those folks will be part of the system and have an insurance policy that will save them so they can have a doctors relationship. host: congressman, thank you for your time and talking to our viewers. we appreciate it. coming up next, ann coulter will be joining us. she has a new book out. right after this newsbreak from c-span radio. >> government weekly jobless numbers are due out this morning. labor turnover for august. freddie mac will be reporting the weekly mortgage rates. a survey of business managers suggest the economic recovery in the euro zone showed few signs

of accelerating in october. the monthly composite index unexpectedly slipped in october . 51.5 points a russian news agency reporting official is-based denying spying accusations against him and says they are an attempt to hurt ties between moscow and washington. a source saying the fbi is looking into whether he tried to recruit young americans. u.s. study finding overall eighth-graders compared reasonably well with their international counterparts in math and science but that also depends on which state they live in. ,tudents in mississippi

alabama, and the district of columbia scored below the international average on both exams. west virginia and tennessee lag in math. some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. author on america's call for scientists and engineers. healthy, you do not need a program to convince people that science and engineering is good to do because they will see it written large on the paper. there will be calls for engineers to go ice fishing where water has been frozen for thousands of years. we are going to dig through the soils of mars and look for life. geology,chemistry,

aerospace engineers, electrical engineers, all of the stem fields. science, technology, math. a healthy nasa is a flywheel that society caps for innovations. ktv has aired over 40,000 programs. booktv, every weekend on c- span2. "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome back ann coulter, out with a new book, "never trust a liberal over 3." toant to get your reaction the affordable care act. let me show "the washington times." more losers than winners predicted by the end of the

month. you are familiar with the website glitches. guest: it is everything conservatives expected. a universal law of nature. everything run by the government will get more expensive. we would like health insurance sold the same market they gave us cell phones and flatscreen tvs and economy cars or air flight but not airport security. health insurance will now be airport security. host: what do you think the chatterjee should be going forward? think the strategy should be going forward? guest: is true they only have one half of one branch of government. try to get more of the government.

you have elections coming up next year. that is a big point of chapter one of my book, to tell republicans to start fighting like democrats. charlie cook this is lyrical report. dozen tossup seats i believe republicans have lost 10 of them. and so i do not think this is the time for the establishment sites be denouncing the birds.atives as wacko et's take thee -- l;e incumbents and set them aside. i allow one exception and that is lindsey graham in south carolina. -- : a government shutdown

should happen again? the republicans cap funding the government. they will fund the entire government but they want to defund obamacare. law that waslar passed and didn't have both houses voting on the same bill, according to john roberts. it was turned into a bill that congress never could have passed on a strict partyline vote. they could not have gotten every democrat to vote for it. john roberts said do not worry, congress. we will turn this into a tax. it has to originate in the house. this was passed by a large democratic majority in both houses of congress and a democratic president. theblicans usually except

games and move on. we will just cut taxes. raking cannot get rid of the department of education. republicans are coming back to this. was -- we wantnt a one-year delay for obamacare. obama should have grabbed it and run like a thief in the night. he is now delaying it for six weeks. the final offer was my favorite one. the final offer was, we will fund the entire government. are one requirement is everyone has to live under it, including congress. you say this program will be so great for americans but not for us. host: you call the government shutdown negative this and.

--you called the government shutdown magnificent. americans do not approve of that strategy. you are talking about winning elections in 2014. polls are notwo polls but propaganda. is a poll ofit all adults. all adults include people who can tell you all about "american idol" but cannot name the vice president. those are the polls that take the temperature of the public's omodd. the public'save mood.

let's see the likely voter polls. they all showed the public split about equal on the government shutdown. the network news is running 62 stories and i blaming it on republicans and none on the democrats. and majority of americans and likely voters oppose obamacare. host: let's talk about your book and the title. what are you saying here? guest: i thought it was a funny title. is a takeoff on the old hippie 's,gan from the 1960 never trust anyone over 30. i was hoping bookstores would be confused and put it in the parenting section. there are plenty of republicans who are liberal, which is why

there is a note in chapter one -- do not purge all of them. taking the advice of the first ook, imaginey b the situations are reversed. republicans get a freakish majority in both houses of congress, passing wildly unpopular bills that will upend everybody's lives. a huge majority into the house of representatives and the democrats in that house who are elected fund the entire government except the massively unpopular bill. do you think the networks would spend every night attacking the

democrats for what the people want their representatives to be doing? do you think you have elective democrats calling their own members wacko birds. can we just concentrate on obamacare? host: what is the republican alternative to obamacare? guest: one of the liberals i would include in my subtitle had nothing to do with creating it. john mccain had a great plan. right-wingers have been talking about this forever. it is to sell health insurance on the same market they gave us cheap cell phone and flatscreen tvs and everything else we buy in the consumer market they gets better and better and cheaper and cheaper. the problem with health was a problem of government intervention.

it was mandates coming from the state and federal governments. if you wanted to buy health insurance in missouri, and was one of the better ones. you have to buy insurance including all -- you have to buy the insurance. you have to buy insurance for speech therapy, marital counseling, gambling addictions. that is not what most people think of as catastrophic. if you are 75 years old, you have to buy insurance for prenatal care. what most people want in a catastropheor that will bankrupt their family. the idea they are talking about birth control is health insurance -- how much is an abortion?

a couple of hundred dollars? no buddy's family went bankrupt on the street, birth control. it is not supposed to be covered by insurance. you would be allowed to buy insurance that would cover all of that. your prenatal counseling. for someone just starting a ininess, you want insurance case you're hit by a truck. host: valerie in alabama, independent caller. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i want to thank you for your voice. for the people that get up every day and focus on solutions. i listen to the elite in washington and even in business business and government inappropriate, we get to this point.

i would like to see american agenda and getting the essence of the proper role of government. we are seeing more and more people confused about what a true benevolent community is. when we protect the individuals and putting the crux in jail -- putting the crooks in jail. we have a government that is forceful and course of and it is terrifying. guest: there is nothing i disagree in with what you said. ornever the american people a republican says government has gotten out of control, liberals always leap to the very few programs, the 20% of government that of course we support. it is called the firemen first

rule. people in a town say the taxes are too high. we will keep the firemen. if we can reduce the number of people working in a different program. the first job of the federal government is to protect the borders and defend against theies and to protect channels of interstate commerce. when it gets moved from local and state to the federal government, you have a lot of waste and a lot of unionized government employees and he keeps getting bigger and bigger. when you see a government program pushed by the democrats, their constituents and not the minorities or poor women. their constituents are more government workers. host: karen is next.

caller: good morning, ann. president andwas even after, isn't if funny how everything was his fault? now with president obama, nothing is his fault. the republicans wanted for the president to say that he would kinds.t and work out the -- the kinks. the president said no. i am low income. i am 50 and i work and have bad health but i do work. our country cannot survive with so many people not soking and contributing and few people trying to carry everybody. host: ok. guest: yes.

thank you for your call. it looks very dark right now, which is why i wrote a fun book that covers every subject under the sun. if you're bored with politics, this is the ann coulter book for you. a lot of people were feeling despair. i have to say there is always hope in america. old,ay you are 16 years think of how dark it looked under president carter. i am from connecticut. i do not remember this in real life but from history. when i think of how the world must have seemed to my parents with john lindsay coming in and suddenly race riots, which they denied. garbage on the streaks.

streets, copshe being killed. it. could not fix everybody talks about new york city going bankrupt. giuliani came in and made a difference like that. and ronald reagan came in. our hostages taken and reagan turned it around like that. so things can change. of chapter one of my book, republicans need to win elections. host: we have a tweet. dana, i disagree with you on the abortion issue hurting us. dom pro-life and i would say

not drop it even if it hurts you. there is not much indication that is hurting us. maybe in particular states. ronald reagan was the most pro- life president we had. he wrote a book in office in 50 years. and what was the book about? it was about defending life. he had a wife that was pro- choice. "no, nancy, i am not changing my position." chris christie -- i no longer support him for president. but he won in new jersey and he is pro-life. he is knocked on a liberal on -- he has not gone liberal on. i know people who voted for reagan and they were pro-choice.

if you believe it is a human life, you will be a single issue voter. if you do not believe it is a convenience, it is not a single issue voter. if that romney believed everything he believes -- they wanted to have a special ceremony up and down main street, i still would have supported them. it has not hearurt us. in some states it is kind of a killer. host: democratic caller from georgia. caller: hi. i am a democrat and i will like to give praise to ann coulter about her book. it sounds like a great book. as far as obamacare is

concerned, i look at america -- in congress, we have great minds. i look at it that way. with great minds, i am looking at the health care for the seniors that are getting older and i am looking at some of the young people or people that are less fortunate that do not have jobs and that is not good. you need health care. rather than to detect this act act, i would like to see a more supportive role from the democrats and the republicans to support their president. the president is sensitive because it affected his life. he had a mother that was affected by large medical bills.

host: ok, caller. ann coulter. guest: i hesitate to disagree. i love you, caller. working together. obamacare quite strongly. medicaid.or, we have for the elderly, we have medicare. now we have a hundred million taking off of medicare for obama care. i think medicare could it can run better. i do not think young people will be signing up for obamacare. the whole structure -- in order for obamacare to work, they need young people to overpay for their health insurance to

support the elderly and sick people going to doctors. when i just pay the fine -- why not just pay the fine? they will not spend a week online to get a plan to overpay for something that they have now a lot cheaper. there are better ways to distribute things. it should not be that hard to understand with insurance. health care is important. having the government run health care exchange is not going to work. when you buy insurance for your , depending on what car you have, you might get different insurance. , youave an old beater car

only want insurance if somebody is harmed. if forre -- it is as what the mandate did that made health insurance expensive to begin with. any insurance you buy has to cover all these things. every car would be covered as a fully loaded jaguar. we are giving this to you and we will mandate every car be as good as a jaguar. most people cannot afford a fully loaded jaguar. let's let the government sell cars on the exchange. there is nothing that is not gotten better by having the private sector run it. host: mark is next from florida. caller: good morning, ladies. don't you think it is time for

us to get information to the voters to turn our attention, being the tea party makes me a hater, to turn our attention to the media and protest and force them to tell the truth about what is going on in this country because people listen to people like yourself and those that are speaking and a look at ss hey haters and racists. if we go after the source, maybe we can go after them to tell the truth. a real story on sunday. how do you feel about having the media do something? guest: i have to take exception about "60 minutes."

they did an amazing story on the medicare disability fraud. you cang to the report, look up the transcripts online. sees that law firm you advertised all the time, at least on cable news. according to the report, they working atneys binder, binder, and binder. they have attorneys on staff and they write a script for fibromyalgia and for things that cannot be disproved. they collected hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars that is intended for people with disabilities. we have a lot of things to be fixing with government. a lot of these programs are good

programs. they are subjected to massive fraud when they are run by the government. it would be better if they were run locally. have the states send it out to the cities. your neighbor knows you're living in a nice house and golfing and not completely disabled and need a huge check every week. i have a chapter on the media in my book. is despairre everywhere i look since november 6. there is the internet and talk radio right now. most the people i know use the mainstream media as a table of contents. florida.d was shot in i will go online and find out what the story is." the things the media has not reported.

there was something similar that reminded me of it. otherlanta and conservative websites reported $46 millionending in fraudulent earned income tax illegalback to 24,000 aliens allegedly living at the same address in atlanta. i could not find that being covered in "the new york times," "the washington post." host: it was on the front page of "the washington times." guest: that seemed like a pretty big story to me. if they were $46 million in defense contractor payments going to not illegal aliens, it

would have to go to a tea party group, i think we would hear about it. ann coultern follow on twitter. here is a tweet from her this morning. dave from nevada, republican caller. caller: pleasure to talk with you. seven participated in focus groups in the past years. there is a common thread in every group i participated in. negative ads, attacks on character work. the average low information a body forprovides votes in election, if they even show out, just has the ability -- they just respond the rumor.

i always listen to republicans and all the shows and some of the people that you appear with and it is always like, we are better than that. we just cannot do that. i am saying to myself, but we are losing. grayson is a classic case. he goes after the absolute worst of the worst but he is in a safe district because of redistricting. thinkdo notsay republicans should behave like alan grayson. you are right about negative ads. the media is always telling us,

"people do not like negative ads." but they work. they say they want to cut government spending in the abstract. "do not touch my social security." the media wants all power. they want to run the negative ads. i to notick comment -- understand the urge to get mitch mcconnell, who was the ted cruz of campaign finance reform. he opposed john mccain's all power to the media bill. he has been a brave fighter for a long time and he is and incumbent. we need to pick up seats in alaska and alabama. host: here is an e-mail from

wanda about elections. we could go back -- what october,it now? -- 2005, and i do not believe the caller would agree with me that george bush's reelection was a mandate and stirring things up. incumbent tends to win, according to the brookings institute. obama had the worst in, reelection in about 100 years. he did less well than every other incumbent. inublicans had while reagan 1980 -- had ronald reagan.

be counting on my mandate on that one. host: i know you dismiss polls. guest: i dismiss polls of all adults. i want the likely voters. if you talk about "american idol," you should not pull me. host: there was a poll by cnn me poseey asked -- let the question. if you had to choose would you rather see john boehner remain as speaker of the house or replaced by another republican? 63% said replace boehner as speaker. guest: i do not have a strong opinion. i have to admit it is a suspicion that basically wants to slip through amnesty.

host: on immigration reform? guest: yes. that is the end of the country. he made some statements to that effect. that is the only thing i have against him. -- i have to say, just shut this shutdown was magnificent. i am so proud of mike lee and ted cruz and the rest of the republicans in the senate. i don't understand why some conservatives are, "they chickened out." what are you going to do? keep hitting your head against the wall? they expose democrats as hypocrites. we do not have a majority in the senate. let's concentrate on getting a majority in the senate. --st: on that poll

guest: i am not sure which way that would go. host: north carolina, democratic caller, dusty. good morning. caller: i wanted to make a couple of statements. the disease was fibromyalgia. there are three branches of government now. how she can support these people that lack the knowledge of basic female anatomy. she said women do not deserve the right to vote. i just want to hear what you expect the president to do. you talk about standing your ground and this and that. you really have an argument -- i do not think you have an argument there. guest: what is your argument

that republicans do not understand basic female anatomy? little body apart are people who are suppressing their knowledge of human anatomy. demographics, it seems christians, religious jews, and catholics are demonstrating their knowledge of at least fertility, how to reproduce better than upper west side liberals. host: will you run for office? no, and i should not. what is gone wrong with our party? why do we keep screwing up elections that we should win? part of the reason is because we

cannot trust the political parties in washington and the political consultants. the job of people like me, it is provocative. to inspire debate and be thought provoking. that is not the job of any office, dogcatcher. that person's job is to reflect the beliefs of people, but hopefully you have been moved by some people in the chattering class. these are different rules. when the consultants abandon what they were supposed to be doing, which is electing republicans, that is how we ended up running richard murdoch and christine o'donnell. how did that work out? host: one more phone call.

house energy and commerce is having a hearing at 9:00 a.m. to look into healthcare.gov. but first this caller from illinois, if you can make a quick. caller: i can help you out. get rid of people like fully and -- foley and larry craig and other people who claim to be pro-life that do not have children. guest: you have to go back five years. tom foley? the speaker? the one that gingrich throughout? you have to go back pretty far with a party like spitzer and wiener which all broken the last year. ter, i defend him. he apparently hired a prostitute in washington.

i don't know if this wife called him but he apologized to his wife and became a christian. nobody knew about this. he did this quietly with his family. later.about eight years his name was released. liberals say when they tried to cover up some corndog like gary hart, you have to be perfect to run for president. is what go back, that is going to find people for running for politics. everybody has something bad. it is one thing to be caught. to be digging up something from

famous for he is completely predicting what would culture, -- ann could out of time. live coverage of the house commerce committee. sitting before the committee are the top four contractors of healthcare.gov.

>> we are alive at the rayburn house office building on capitol

hill. the house energy and commerce committee is holding a hearing on affordable care act enrollment. looking at some of the issues. --ernment contractors helped are set to testify this morning. committee members are expected to examine what they did or did not know before the october 1 rollout. fred upton is chair of the committee. ranking member is cumbersome and henry waxman, just taking his seat. henry waxman,man just taking his seat. we expect to get underway in a moment. >> good morning. tost, i would like to note our florida colleagues who are unable to be with us, they are attending the funeral of our

late colleague bill young. a friend to all here and a mentor to so many on both sides of the aisle. missed,ing to be deeply particularly in his legacy of the establishment of the bone marrow registry. something that will save tens of thousands of lives. we appreciate that work. the energy and commerce committee continues our care law of the health as we examine the many problems, crashes, glitches, system failures that have defined open enrollment. over the past several months leading up to the launch, top administration officials and lead contractors appeared before this committee, looked us in the eye, and a short us that everything was on track -- assured us that everything was on track. it was not. why did they assure us that the website would work?

did they not know or did they not disclose? that is what we are looking to find out with the contractors today and secretary sebelius next week. the companies here all testified before the subcommittee about their work building healthcare.gov. hearing, these companies represented that the exchanges would be ready for open enrollment on october 1. they explained that their testing of the system had not identified any significant albums. blame, this isut about accountability, transparency, and fairness for the american public. the broken promises are many. the president promised americans that they could keep their what. plans no matter .4 days into open enrollment, more people are receiving a cancellation notices and just 2 states. 476,000 -- more than the

476,000 that have been enrolling. appearingstration is allergic to transparency, withholding enrollment figures. this is more than a website problem. the website should have been the easy part. i am concerned about what happens next. will enrollment glitches become provider payment glitches? will patients show up and be told that they are not covered or even in the system? acrossw months, families the country will face penalties under the individual mandate. how can the administration punish innocent americans by forcing them to buy from a system that does not work and whose rollout has been a disaster? the american public deserves answers. we will get that from the lead contractors today, next week will be secretary sebelius' turn. i yield two minutes to the vice

chair mrs. blackburn. >> we are looking forward to getting your perspective of what went wrong and how went wrong with the rollout. we were repeatedly told by members of the administration that everything would be working properly and it would be done on time. assurances seem to sway some people on the other side of the aisle. they believed things would be done on time. yesterday, mr. waxman and i were agreeing on some things in a hearing. last month, we were disagreeing. he had said that nothing could be found from our committee's investigation of exchange implementation and readiness. .e were quite concerned the definition of nothing has turned out to be design choices that hide unaffordable premiums,

glitches, dead ends, ara messages, system breakdowns, and sages, and-- error mes americans spending time on a system not ready for prime time. we are going to join together for proper oversight of the health care law. this is taxpayer money on the line. we need to be judicious. the past three weeks of exchange have demonstrated that nobody can be a blind cheerleader for the affordable care act when they see problems before their eyes. i yield -- is the gentleman from texas mr. barton -- i yield back to the chairman. >> the chair would recognize for an opening statement, the ranking member mr. waxman. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. the affordable care act is an enormous success with one

obvious exception. it has a poorly designed website. the law has already accomplished a lot. of americans, especially seniors, have saved hundreds of dollars on prescription drugs. young people have gotten health insurance coverage. families have received rebates from their insurance companies that use more than 20% for their overhead costs. preventative care is now a free benefit in medicare and private insurance. we hear more stories of people saving thousands of getting thefinally security of quality health insurance. what has not happened and what has not been successful is the early performance of the website. that has caused understandable asstration and anxiety

americans have tried to sign up for the coverage. law is hittinge insurance coverage, private insurance coverage that others have who work for large employers like the federal government. democrats want health care -- to work.e.gov we want to know what is wrong with the website and how we can help fix it. we want to learn what the contractors can tell us about the problems and how they can be addressed. colleaguest all my should want, including my republican colleagues. that has not been their agenda so far. we have already documented a record of republicans attempting to sabotage the affordable care resultich they know will in denying coverage to millions of uninsured americans who

cannot find insurance under the market system that excludes them if they have pre-existing medical conditions or if they cannot afford coverage. from voting more than 40 times to repeal the law, from intimidating organizations that have tried to help the law succeed, rove publicans have encouraged -- republicans have tried to abstract implementation, deny medicaid coverage, even though it is being paid for by the federal government. even by shutting down the government in order to try to repeal this law. republicans have not shown us that they are trying to make this law work so far. we all want answers. we want families to have affordable health insurance. we have already seen extraordinary demands for this coverage being offered through the exchanges.

one of the reasons that we were given that the website did not work is that it crashed with so many people trying to access it. we know that people want to shop. a choice between different health insurance plans that are being offered to them and have already been lined up to offer them -- private health insurance. we are encouraging our constituents to use other means of signing up like call centers and written applications while the website problems are being fixed. there pressing administration to redouble their efforts to fix the website. we welcome yesterday's announcement giving americans more time to sign up for the insurance. toryone has a responsibility get health insurance. we expect people to observe that responsibility. i cannot see that anyone is going to be penalized under the

law if they have not been able to buy health insurance during this time where they have not had access to the exchanges. we need to start listening to our people who sent us to congress. they do not want the government shutdown. they do not want congress to drive the country to the brink of default. they want this law to work, but they do want us to make sure that we hold everybody accountable and insist that the law and the promise of affordable health care become a reality for all americans. that means we have got to get this website fixed. that is why i am please we are going to hear from the four contractors today and next week from the secretary. if we want this law to work, we have got to make it right, we have got to fix it. not what the republicans have been trying to do, nix and repeal it.

recognize theould chairman of the oversight subcommittee dr. murphy. >> thank you. of the oversight investigations committee, i have heard promises from the administration officials that all was well with the health care law. not true. either these officials were shockingly unaware of what was their owninside agencies or deliberately misleading our committee and the public. hoping this would turn around. 2 weeks before enrollment began, hhs told us that consumers could go online on october 1. not true. websites whered people could easily compare plans and cost. later, the american with thes been dumped

ultimate cash for clunkers. they had to pay the cash and still got the clunker. secretary sebelius has admitted hhs did not do enough testing. were the contractors able to work with each other and complete testing? qssi states that the decision requiring consumers to register for an account before browsing was a contributor to the website october 1 crash. who made this decision? were they trying to hide the true cost from the public? the president is committing untold amounts of money for a to headed by plan an individual without technology experience to fix this. if contractors could not build tests and run a website, how could anyone else do this? congress should press pause on the tech surge and figure out what went wrong before focusing

-- forcing the public to use a broken site. we want an explanation on how the system will be fixed, what it will cost, and how long it will take. after footing the bill, the american people deserve something that works or start over. take responsibility and tell us what is wrong and fix it, or try something else. i yield back. thank you, mr. chairman. hhs officials repeatedly assure this committee that the administration would be ready for october 1, 2013. this past july, the secretary stated that hhs would "flip on the switch on october 1 and taking people, come on and sign up." on august 1, administrator that cms woulds finish and two and testing by the end of august. on september 10, the

subcommittee held a hearing in are presented as from cgi assural, serco, they i red us that their components would be ready on time. when the exchanges open on october 1, it was a disaster. we are hearing reports that the administration was warned that the site was not ready for an october 1 launch. "the washington post" reported that as late as september 26, there had been no test to determine whether a consumer could complete the process from beginning to end. justtary sebelius said this week that almost no testing occurred. these past few weeks of exchange dysfunction, along with stories of hundreds of thousands of

americans losing their existing help underscore why washington should not be running out for private health insurance system. the botched rollout is all the more reason that the individual mandate penalty should be delayed. average americans deserve a waiver from obamacare, too. it is only fair when the exchanges are such a mess. the companies represented today in charge of building the exchange. but cms was responsible for ensuring everything works together properly. in light of all of the administration's assurances, is this -- are they simply incompetent war were they just lying to the american people? have something i would like to put up. like all of obamacare, what it

appears on the surface is not what it is. this is the terms and conditions that you accept that some point in the process. that looks pretty plain jane. what you do not see is the slide. it says you have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data stored on this information system. at any time or for any government purpose, the government may monitor, search, and sees communication or data transiting or stored on this system. any communication may be disclosed or used for lawful government purposes. that is obamacare in a nutshell. it says one thing on the surface, does something totally different behind the scenes. my questions for the contractors about this lack of privacy and what they knew about it.

the chair would recognize the ranking member from new jersey. >> thank you. heard the chairman of the health subcommittee safety wants to delay the affordable care act. respect for the gentleman from pennsylvania. but here we go again, another cynical effort by the republicans to delay, defund, or repeal the affordable care act. i would like to think that somehow this hearing is above board and legitimate, but it is not. the republicans do not have clean hands coming here. their effort is not to make this better, but to use the website and the glitches as an excuse to defund or repeal obamacare. i think it is very unfortunate.

there are millions of people out there who are trying to go on this website, like 20 million. opportunity once this is fixed, the administration is trying very hard. they deserve an opportunity to have health care and not be among those 30 million or 40 million who are uninsured and a good-- or do not have benefit package. let the goal be to fix it not n ix it. i wouldwere your goal, feel good about this hearing. i do not see that happening. one of the things i wanted to bring is how democrats take a different approach to things. when medicare part d started up, there were all kinds of problems with the website. it went on for months, these are some of the headlines from the newspapers about the problems. do the democrats get up and say medicare part d is terrible, let's defund it? work hard, make it better.

the program became a good program. that is what i will like to see my republican colleagues do today. it is not the case. time and time again, the gop has ed to slow the progress of the aca. they were willing to shut the government down for three weeks, did we forget? they shut down the government because they wanted us to defund or make changes or delay the affordable care act. i hear my republican colleagues talking about that they care about money, federal or individual dollars. the information that has come the gross national product last $.4 billion during the shutdown. 10% of the gross national quarter.f the last you do not care. what about all the money you

lost in the three weeks? you wanted to delay the affordable care act so we did not matter? no clean hands here. do you really care? i do not think so. would stop that you the distraction, work with us on trying to make this a better system. waxman said,ue mr. this can be fixed if you will work with us. i yield to the general woman from colorado. entlewoman from colorado. out what here to find the problem is with the healthcare.gov website and how we can fix these technical problems. last month, we heard from cgi, serco, and at the facts, the same for contractors who are here today. they told us that the website

would work. --asked them point blank they told us that hhs was doing an excellent job of texting the product. they expressed nothing but optimism. three weeks later, here we are. we are still hearing reports of problems. i appreciate the contractors coming today. i give them the benefit of the things arethey say improving. for the affordable care act to work, these problems need to be faxed. fast.ed we need to hear exactly what they are doing to fix these issues and see clear examples of improvement and be provided with a timeline for how it will be optional.small -- this is not our first experience with introductions of new health care programs. i was on this committee in 2006

when medicare part d was implemented during the bush administration. let's not forget what a mess it was and the significant problems seniors have with registering for benefits. i want to remind my colleagues on both sides at the difficulties past and were soon forgotten amidst the success of part d. i take the adjusters on the other side of the aisle seriously. we can work together to ensure the success of healthcare.gov. there is something else i remember from the introduction of the part d benefit. every single one of us, whether or not we voted for the law, work together for our success. the newsletter that i sent out to my constituents after medicare part d -- i said i oppose the law that created this program but people need to be armed with the information requested. everybody to do that.

my hope is that today marks the beginning of an effort on the majority's part to make sure that the health care law works and is successful. and americans can enjoy the benefits. to makeit is important that happen. tom so happy and touched hear the majority express concern about making the aca work better. i hope that they are legitimate. this is what is going to give insurance to millions of americans who have gone without health care for many years because they cannot afford the program. with that, i yield to the chairman emeritus of the full committee. >> thank you. this is a wonderful opportunity for us to make the affordable care act work. the lastmy colleagues

perfect law came off of the top ses,ount sinai with mosy written on a stone tablet. nothing so good has happened since. i urge us to use our best efforts to see that this law goes into effect and works and that we carry out our responsibility to the american people. to see to it that we do everything we can to defend the laws of the u.s. i have heard some unfortunate things on the other side. they said we have to do everything in our power to prevent obamacare. obamacare, get rid of it. sideriends on the other have forgotten that. i hope they will continue to forget it. we have a chance to see to it that the american people get health care as a matter of right, not financial privilege. frustrated, at least as frustrated as anyone else in this room, about the problems facing healthcare.gov. this is unacceptable and needs

to be fixed. if we are willing to work together, we can do something to see to it that it is fixed and that it helps all of the american people. are better than the alternative. health care is a privilege only for the few, it does not seem to matter. if it is for everybody, we have to address that question and see that we take care of all of our people. i look forward to exploring how the website can be fixed. i look forward to working with my republican and democratic colleagues to see that we do a constructive job of making this work. i remind all that when we were dealing with medicare part d, not something that originated on the side of the aisle, we work together to see to it that it worked. conclusion topted a significant problem.

improved by the affordable care act. i thank you for your courtesy. i hope we can work constructively on this matter. the gentleman from michigan's time has expired. would like to introduce the witnesses for today's hearing. our first witness is cheryl senior vp for cgi federal health in compliance program. she was appointed to this position in 2009. she is the driver of strategy and execution for the practice to serve the needs of providers, government, and public. andrew slavitt, the group executive vp for optum/qssi. is responsible for business strategy, public policy,

corporate investment, research and development, acquisition, and corporate governance. he has served in other roles at unitedhealth group and was founder and ceo of health outliers,-- health allies. our third witness is lynn spellecy. she serves as the corporate counsel for equity fax -- equifax workforce solutions. she advises the business on matters related to contracts, products, and client relationships. she works with sales an internal contract staff and the broader legal department to manage workforce solutions and issues related to litigation. our last witnesses john lau, program director at serco responsible for overseeing eligibility and enrollment

support services. he specializes in implementation and management of large scale health and cement -- health and human services in the u.s. including chip and tanf. his experience is in design and management of multimillion dollar health care systems, anduding california''s texas' systems. i will now swear in the witnesses. the committee is taking testimonies under oath. the you have an objection to testifying under oath? the chair advises you that under the rules of the house and the roles of the committee, you are entitled to be advised by counsel.

do you desire to be advised by counsel during your testimony today? please rise and raise your right hand. i will swear you in. testimonyear that the you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? thank you. under oath. subject to the penalties set forth under u.s. code. you are now able to give a five minute summary of your written statement. the scandal -- ms. campbell? >> chairman upton, ranking member waxman, members of the committee, thank you very much for the opportunity to appear before you today. my name is cheryl campbell, and i am a senior vice president at cgi federal inc. i have responsibility for all of cgi federal's projects at the department of health and human services and several other federal agencies.

i am here to reinforce cgi federal's ongoing commitment to the success of healthcare.gov. cgi federal is fully committed to its partnership with the ms -- with cms. our priority is for american to a positive experience. we dedicate the best experts to optimize our portion of the federal exchange. let me describe our role in the federal exchange. sixexchange is comprised of systems and involves 55 contractors, including cgi federal. five government agencies, 30 six states, and more than 300 together in coming healthcare.gov. cms awarded cgi federal its portion of the federal exchange

and application called the federally facilitated marketplace. specifically, the fsm provides functionality for eligibility and enrollment, plan management, and financial management. cms serves as the systems integrator, having ultimate response ability for performance of the exchange. it is important to understand the complexity of cgi federal's work on the exchange. is a software application that combines a web portal, a transaction processor, and business analytics to help americans determine the eligibility for insurance, apply for subsidies, shop for health plans, and enroll in plants. the technology works in real- time with analytic systems developed by other contractors. ,arge scale data repositories

and health plans for more than 300 insurers. the federal exchange, including the ffm, is not a standard consumer website. rather, it is a sophisticated technology platform that for the first time in history combines the processes of selecting and insurance and determining eligibility for government subsidies all in one place and in real-time. 2011, cgiember 30, federal has worked diligently to develop the ffm by following a rigorous process. it passed eight reviews before: live onbefore going october 1. some consumers were able to enroll on october 1, we acknowledge that issues arising in the federal exchange may the enrollment process difficult for too many americans.

consequently, cgi federal's focus shifted to solving consumer access and navigation problems on the exchange. the first set of issues on the exchange concerned another contractor's eidm function. createlows consumers to secure accounts. consumers must pass through the front door to enter the ffm application. the eidm created a bottleneck, preventing the majority of consumers from accessing the ffm. we have worked together to troubleshoot and solve this front door problem. more consumers are gaining access and enrolling in qualified plans, the number of transactions cause performance problems such as low performance -- slow response time and data issues.

cgi will address these problems through tuning, optimization, and application improvements. over the past two weeks, the federal exchange has steadily improved. we continue to dedicate the resources necessary to shorten wait and transaction times, and improve data quality. we are confident in our ability to deliver successfully. the company i represent has successfully delivered some of the most complex i.t. implementations for the u.s. government including federal reporting.gov. we have partnered with cms on programs like medicare.gov, which has enabled or the 50 enabledbeneficiaries -- more than 50 million beneficiaries to compare plans. we are recognized for our 5pertise and have cmmi level credentials. as part as the fifth largest

independent i.t. and business process company in the world, we leverage the expertise of a global workforce. i will end this testimony where i began by reinforcing cgi , federal's unwavering commitment to working collaboratively with cms to improve the consumer experience. >> thank you. slavitt? >>chairman upton, ranking member waxman, and members of the committee, good morning. my name is andy slavitt, and i am group executive vice president of optum, a business unit of unitedhealth group. optum owns qssi. one of the contractors working on the online healthcare marketplaces. i am here today to discuss our work on the data hub, aes help --

project that was the such -- the subject of much interest. the data services hub is a pipeline that transfers data, routing queries and responses between a different -- a marketplace and data sources. specifically, a consumer interested in purchasing health insurance goes to the web or built to fill out forms and select a plan. they consumer provides the marketplace with information such as citizenship which must be verified. the data service hub directs queries to various sources such as databases that can verify that information and send it back to the marketplace. as a technology pipeline, the data services hub does not determine the accuracy of the information, nor is the store data.

services hub has performed well since the marketplace has launched. on october 1, the data services than 178,000 more transactions and has processed millions more sense. were identified, they were probably corrected. -- promptly corrected. eidm, ao developed the registration and access management will as part of the registration system. this toll helps the marketplace create user accounts and is being used successfully currently in at least two other cms applications. eidm is-- while the important, it is only one piece of the britishers and system -- one piece of the registration

system. there are other functions such as user interface, confirmation e-mails, the lynx users click on, and the webpage users land on. all of these tools must work together seamlessly. launch,e lua -- healthcare.gov was inundated by many more consumers than expected. many facets were overwhelmed, including the eidm tool. reasons for the high- volume in the registration system was the late decision requiring consumers to register for an account before they can browse for products. this may have driven higher simultaneous usage of the reddish ration system that would not have -- of the registration

system. clock to around the meet this unexpected demand, this has largely succeeded. eidm was 8, the processing those volumes at your rates close to zero. it continues to keep place with demand. we are working with other vendors to plan for higher levels of activity. qssi was one of several testers he used to test the functionality of the marketplace. in our testing role, we identified errors in code. we reported back the results to cms and irrelevant contractor, -- and the relevant contractor, who was responsible for making changes. the data services hub has performed well. after initial challenges, the

eidm is keeping up with demand. we are committed to helping resolve any new challenges that may arise in any way we can. thank you for the opportunity to discuss choices i -- qssi's work. i am happy to answer questions. spellecy? >> good morning. my name is lynn spellecy and i serve as senior director and corporate counsel for equifax workforce solutions. i appreciate the -- i am the primary attorney responsible for day to day legal operations and i provide -- i appreciate the opportunity to provide an update related to the income verification services that equifax is providing cms to

assist any benefit eligibility. -- the incomere verification pool is working as designed. we have not experienced any problems or interruptions in the processing of data to cms. received and responded to verification requests from the federal and state market places. solutionsrkforce tested our verification solutions before the start date to ensure that we could transmit our servers and federal hobbs. we performed end to end and guarantee weing to would be prepared for applicant volumes. rather the federal marketplace -- now that the federal

marketplace is open, we are monitoring the volumes from the hub to our services. role is limited. they receive an verification request only after an applicant gains access to the health care.gov website, creates a username and a profile and enters an application. workforce solutions does not say a role in identity authentication. in thenot involved eligibility decision process or downstream display and processing of benefit elections. the majority of the verification requests have come through the federally facilitated we are also

verifying income for several state based market places and state medicaid agencies. appropriations act for 2014 included new requirements for hhs to ensure that the federal and state marketplaces verified the individuals applying for coverage and seeking premium tax eligible for subsidies. x workforce solutions looks forward to sharing our expertise with cms and hhs as they develop guidance regarding verification for the federal and state exchanges. date,the october 1, 2013 x workforce solutions have exceeded their contract with cms to provide verification services for those seeking coverage under the affordable

care act. the services we provide to state and federal agencies have prepared workforce solutions to serve cms in this new capacity. we will continue to monitor our interface with cms data hubs and state agencies to ensure efficacy. thank you for the opportunity to testify. morning, mr. chairman, congressman waxman. set.ke sure your mic is >> good morning. my name is john lau. i represent serco. i am the program director for our cms contract in connection with the aca. thank you for the opportunity to appear and discuss serco's

status and performance in this program. for the next several minutes, i would like to provide a review program's role in the and the current status of our work. 's contract is to provide eligibility support services in support of the paper application processing as well as error and issue resolution on applications , regardless of the mode in -- the consumer submitted them. it is important to clarify that we have no role in the development of the website, numeral in the determination of ole in healthno r plan selection. i think there has been some confusion, i want to make sure that is clear. our primary role in the early days of the implementation is to into paper applications the eligibility system. as time goes on, our work will

entail inconsistency resolution to clear previously submitted applications. this entails data verification and validation of the self tested data from applicants. these are problems identified through the use of a data hub and then communicated to us. serco has successfully opened 2 centers insing kentucky and arkansas. a third will be opened in missouri, and in four or five weeks in oklahoma. we have had no trouble recruiting competent staff and have received compliments from officials and community groups about the professionalism of our recurring efforts and ways we have trained our people.

we have instilled a sense of pride in what they are doing, our staff is highly motivated and represent an your workforce ager workforce. we have built upon our starting capacity with staff members and processing efficiency. the volume of paper documents received has been increasing and is trending upward in a short period. this has given us the makertunity to adjustments and improve our processes. date, we have received about 18,000 documents, about half of those are consumer applications. we have succeeded in key entering about half of those. the remaining half were missing important data and cannot be entered directly until his problems are resolved.

complete processing and entering those applications in the near future. our challenges have included coping with the performance of the portal, that is our means of entering data, just as it is for the consumer. with the relatively low volumes of application, it has not presented a challenge. as i testified september 10, serco was ready to process on 10/1, and we are processing today. thank you. >> think each of you. to questions, alternating between republicans and democrats. i want to say -- as we have seen the taxpayers spent about $0.5 constituents across the country expected a user-friendly

system. whether it is like ordering a pizza, a rental car, is a standard that many were expecting to see. at this point would say it is not ready for prime time. listening to your testimony, i have heard words like performing, you want a positive that is not what we have heard from folks at home. my first question is -- was it ever an option to delay going live on october 1? you come forth to the administration and say this may not be ready on october 1, we might want a delay until we can get right? any hands up? no. did you knowber 1, that healthcare.gov was going to have crippling problems or did

you not know about these problems and chose not to disclose them to the administration when you figured out that it was not working they way that it was designed to work? maybe i will get comments from each of you as it relates to those questions. starting with ms. campbell. september.tified in either you did not know about these problems or you knew about them and chose not to disclose them, which one is it? cgi perspective, our portion of the application worked as designed. people have been able to enroll, not at the pace or the experience we would have liked. but the end to end testing with the responsibility of cms. our portion of the system is what we testify in terms of what was ready to go live.

it was not our decision to go livel. -- go live. >> it was not your decision? >> it with cms' decision. >> did you ever recommend to cms that it was not ready? >> it was not our position to do so. let me clarify -- cms had the ultimate decision for live or no go, not cgi. we were not in a position. we were there to support our client. it is not a position to tell our client to go live or not the live.ot go >> pool at were you sharing -- who atsions with cms were you sharing those decisions with? >> i did not have a position to

make that decision. >> who at cms made the decision to go live? >> is a body of individuals. >> mr. slavitt? >> we had a limited view of the weirety of the project, were confident in the ability of the data services hub where we spent the bulk of our efforts. we were confident it would work on october 1, and it has. all than that, we had -- of the concerns that we had, mostly related to testing and the inability to get as much testing as we would have liked, we expressed those concerns to cms throughout a project. >> so you shared there were real difficulties in the testing with them? >> all of the risks we saw and all of the concerns were all shared with c.m.s. >> and what was your response

to when you shared some of the pitfalls in terms of what was going on? >> my understanding is they understood and they were working. i don't know further. >> did they ever come back to you in terms of the shortcomings and what needed to be done, any concerns that were raised by them? a e never -- i never got depiction from them, but we did fully talk about the risks that we saw and we passed those along, all along the way. >> ms. spellecy. >> our solution was ready to go october 1, 2013. we successfully completed end-to-end testing between equifax work force solutions and the c.m.s. data hub. prior to that date -- so we did not anticipate any sort of problems with our connection nd have not experienced any. >> mr. lau. >>