flawlessly. roast of the questions were around -- most of the questions were around the hub. >> it has been suggested that neither criminal background checks nor high school diplomas will be required for navigators. >> could you repeat the question? i am sorry. >> neither high school diplomas nor criminal background checks will be required for those you hire to help americans navigate the obamacare website. >> i do not think that is true. through >> ok. has anyone in the white house or anyone else asking to delay approaching enrollment numbers in regards to the question at the beginning, -- >> no. remember, we said all along we would release our numbers. ,lass no one at the white house

no one in the entire obama administration, has asked you not to release those numbers? >> we made the decision we would not release the numbers until mid-november. >> you have no idea what the >>bers are at this point? the numbers will be released in mid-november. class i will take that as you do not want to answer the question. ever argued to secretary sibelius or anyone at the white house or anyone else that the exchanges would not be ready october 1 and a delay would be wanted? >> i did not ever argued that we should delay the exchanges. september isted in that there were certain functions we would delay. those had to do with the automation of -- with the --nish language website

>> before my time expires, i want to yield quickly. i find it puzzled -- puzzling we have to explain to administration officials have a lot worse. the law is if you are under the age of 26 and url jubal to stay under your pants plans, you cannot receive subsidies. website nothing on your that tells an under 26-year-old those facts. you are encourage people to sign up for insurance in a subsidy they may not be our chore and i do not even notice. class congressman ryan, i am happy to go back and check on that and get you information. class my time has expired. class one of the differences here in the legislative modeling is the way we attempted to repair the drug prescription benefit in terms of addressing the doughnut hole. we did not suggest we wanted to repeal the law. we simply said to repair it and remind everyone part of the

gimmickry as it related to the doughnut will -- donut hole as well, the affordable care act, you can safely say, that is happened. we are in the midst of marketing. the open enrollment plan. so people right now, the i want tois terrific. come to another point. there is a great picture at daniel hall, where much of the american revolution was designed and hatched. of governor romney, or as we know him on this committee, paul ryan's running mate -- [laughter]

the other guy on the ticket, ted kennedy, the heritage and the governor sets his hand to this legislation, which has become a model for applicable it he, efficiency, and success. what a grand possibility. in your estimation, have the massachusetts plan worked? >> the massachusetts plan over time has allowed individuals to not have to worry about pre- existing. it is required they have insurance. it is required they participate in group coverage. the same principles we have affordablerough the care act. it has been a huge success. they started slowly. it took them years to get to

where they are today. they have good coverage. if you look at their outcome, they have excellent outcomes in health care as well. >> a democratic legislator has three republicans in the senate and they came to the conclusion using the discipline of the marketplace could be part of the solution. we would argue about other matters. giving everybody signed up was a key component. we would use the private sector to discipline price. correct? class that is correct. -- >> that is correct. -- to make ite work, as opposed to this determination to make sure it i yield back my time. >> thank you.

>> thank you for coming today. you have a great reputation. you have a very difficult job to do. i want to make a note to you and members of the audience. on september 30, the republican a continuing revolution -- resolution that funded the government and delayed for one year the individual mandate and the implementation of this bill. was on september 30. that died in the senate, delaying this to one year. believe thaty we was the right policy, and history will show it is, is what we have seen in the 28 days since. that is the disastrous unveiling of this bill. do not have to be a member of congress and talk to constituents to understand the

difficulty the implementation has caused him people's daily lives. as mr. brady said, the nervousness and the fear. you have been telling us there are other options in addition to the website. the president has actually gone out and sold that pretty well. if the constituent line goes and makes the phone call to try to find out some information, can she find out by calling the phone number if the doctor in er current network is covered? >> she cannot do the phone call. that was true in the market prior. if thean she find out plan costs more than her current plan? >> yes. she can. they work through the application. >> she has to actually apply before she can shop. quest that is important. it is poured to understand if

she is eligible for tax credit because that affects the price you would pay. >> can she find out the cost of the plan without finding out -- without signing up? interested innot the tax credit and you just want to know what rates are available, we have on the website the ability -- availability to do that. quest website is not working. >> this is on the front end. what is not working are some of the pieces inside the application. interested int rates in our market, that is available through the website. there is also the ability, and we have a link to that on the website, to use kaiser site which also allows them, if they believe they are eligible to task credits, to go in and simulate what that would look like. interested int test credits and they just want to know what is available to them, and i have several friends available to me, i just want to see what rates on individual margaret -- they have decided to do that. quest they do not.

quest your positive? >> i am positive. >> is in the person on the phone with my constituent who is trying to find out if the doctors and the network -- >> u.s. a different question. it doctor in the network -- is not available. quest) the person making the constituent, is talking to zone on the other line, aren't they accessing the same information on the website that our constituents are encouraged not to do? >> two different issues. if they are completing an application, they would complete the application and then we would give them information. if you are just information -- interested in knowing the insurance rates in your area that are available without completing an application, you can just go on the website and get that information. >> if they are accessing the phone network because they cannot access the website -- >> they can give them that information. >> is in that person they're talking to accessing the same website. >> yes. it is not inside the application. >> you're asking people to call and talk to a person who is

accessing the same website we are encouraging our constituents not to use because it is not working right. quest let me try this a right -- again. the problem we have on the website sometimes is in the application process itself. inside the application. people were getting in this -- stuck in the application process. you asked me if we can get plan information without completing the application process, and the answer to that is yes. >> let me tell you the concern i have that we will have to deal with and the members of the other side of the got -- on the will note of the aisle knowledge. we understand the affordable care act is the law of the land. we do. but we also understand from our constituents there is a disaster of a rollout that is occurring. not a hick up. a disaster. mestituents have said to

their doctor will not be covered in the new plan. their plan will be more expensive. finally, a constituent who said, you guys passed a bill that tells me i am transitioning -- you are telling me to transition to another planet and your tell me what the plan will be, it will not have the same benefits i have now, i will pay more, but you will give me a tax credit back so i can pay less, even though it will cost more? that is crazy. for us to not acknowledge that is crazy is so disappointing and discouraging. >> thank you. am troubled by the determination of our republican colleagues to destroy the rights of americans to access affordable health care, i promise ofhe affordable health care can also be denied through management failure. i share some of the concerns raised here this morning. if there were even one republican member of this theittee who wanted to fix

shortcomings of the act and learn lessons from the rollout about how to improve access, we could have a constructive hearing that focus on limitations and how to address them. at the top of the list for protection would be the million people that when we thought we were providing protection when we enacted this law, who were getting absolutely nothing out of it. the limitations of the website are part of the concerns i had. let me ask you specifically, will the website for small businesses that was delayed be fully functional during november? >> yes. we will institute the shop component at the end of november. >> the twice delayed spanish language version of health care .gov be fully operated that --

by the end of november? >> yes. >> there are estimates three out of quach eligible individuals for the website need some in person assistant -- eligible for tax credits, will need some assistance in person to access that care --. that is why the navigators are so very important. people in maryland get $15 -- 15 times as much money per uninsured, eligible for the exchange, for the tax credits, as do people in texas. people in california get about four times as much. it makes it all the more important the navigators system work as well as the web system works. about the concerns way the navigators system works. i have been asking whether it is possible to get prompt reports

about whether the navigators are doing their job and accessing people whether my paper or phone or web. i have been told there are no progress reports that will be available on those navigators and what they are doing until after the beginning of the year. surely there are some reports you can make available that will tell us whether these navigators are doing anymore than the little i have seen them do in my part of texas. >> yes. you should not have to wait until the first of the year. >> you can get us progress reports. when you announced the navigator there was anxas, indication there would be a second round of grants. congress --appears contrast word reach to provide assistance. those firms are at least required to provide, in some

cases, weekly reports on their progress. in what way are those enrollment assistance, she does companies. , believe the one for texas they got a total of about $30 million, much more than any individual or entity in texas. the local navigators and assistance counselors, to reach out to the uninsured. >> i can get you that information. we obviously, there are navigators inside each of the that weexchange states awarded contracts to. in addition, there are volunteers to the texas hospital association and others and i can get you a full report. >> i am interested, and today is not the first time i've asked, for a full report as to how

these enrollment assistance folks came into being and how they are involved with local folks. we have had to set up san antonio and austin, our own network to try to make up for what we did not get in the way of federal assistance at the local level. these new -- enrollment assistance people, i am interested in getting progress reports on them to see what they have actually done, if they have actually signed anyone up and what kinds of people they are signing up and whether the navigators system, the enrollment -- the certified counselors, aren't any better organized and coordinated than the website and the 55 contractors have been. another area of concern -- >> thank you, mr. chairman. this law started out on a troubling note right from the beginning. republicans were not a part of the process and were not asked.

said, weosi herself must pass the law to find out what is in the law. as one of my colleagues mentioned this morning, it is just sand around the edges. we have done standing around the edges and that is due to the fact republicans have been of the attention to some issues we are now becoming aware that -- aware of because people are reading the line finding out what is in it. three programs have been completely halted since the law has passed. seven others have been repealed and had funding rescinded and they have been signed into law. that takes republicans and democrats and the president of allunited states to greet those things for those things to happen. what people feel right now, it is not time for any sanding to take place, but to change some companies to come out. we will keep on and be persistent.

were you working for cns on january 29, 2010? process a part of the in working to help implement obamacare? >> i actually was not january 29 2010. >> when did you start working to implement the health care law? late februaryms of 2010. >> late february. do you know if you can keep your help or care plan if you like it? >> do i know that i can keep my health care plan? >> do you know if it is true, as the president has said and many democrats have said, that if you like your health care plan, you can keep it. is that a true statement? statement.true >> thank you for that answer.

you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor? is that a true statement? >> doctors come and go inside networks. >> if a person has a doctor and wants to go to that doctor and the dr. is in the network, the to go to that dr.? they can keep the doctor if they like their dr.? >> if that person is in a plan where the dr. is in the network, they can. that's ok. on january time 9, 2010, and it has been reported today in some of our papers, the president knew years ago you will not be able to keep your health but -- health care plan and you will not deal to keep your dr. in this health care plan. to the republican retreat january 29, 2010. when he was asked the question said,keeping your dr. he for example, we said from the start, this was going to be important for us to be consistent in saying to people,

if you want to keep your health insurance, you have got it. you can keep it. that you will not have anybody getting in between you and your dr. and your decision-making. then he says, i think some of the provisions that got snuck in might have violated that pledge. are you aware of some of those provisions that got snuck in that might violate the pledge? class i do not know what you're talking about. >> i just gave you a quote from the president of the united states your boss. >> -- >> are you not familiar with health care law? >> i am very familiar. >> the president is aware of provisions that were snuck into the law that says you will not be able to keep your health care plan or your dr.. you just said you can. .ou must not be aware you did not read the law as nancy pelosi said you should when the thing was passed. otherwise, you would know about those provisions.

state, myton constituents cannot keep their health care plan. 290,000 individuals in washington. they have received notices canceling their health care plan. do you know that is happening? have you heard those stories? there are issuers in states who are canceling their own plans grandfathered in and moving to new plants. >> what you just said about keeping your health care plan, that is not true? >> they can keep it. >> they cannot keep it. just got cancellation notices. they cannot keep it. the president says you cannot keep it. why are you saying you can? i do not understand. time has expired. mr. thompson is recognized for five minutes. in order to make sure everyone has an opportunity to question, we have agreed to move to three minutes. recognized for five minutes. >> can you start the clock

again? class we will give you those 10 seconds back. there you go. >> thank you. ma'am, thank you very much for being here. i want to thank my colleague from california who earlier was not you or cms that set up the computer system you used are perceptive -- private sector outside venues. at some point, we need to look at our federal procurement process, which is in part responsible for a lot of the problems we have seen. i also want to thank mr. neale for pointing out in fact, when we work together, we can avoid a lot of the problems we are seeing and we should be working together to make sure people have access to quality affordable health care, rather than trying to find fault and blame and trying to defund or derail or sabotage a program havened to help people

access to quality, affordable health care. nowhere is that more seen better what we're doing in some of the states. it is my understanding and some of my college have pointed out today, that we have some states doing a pretty good job with their delivery of the affordable care act. my home state of california has something called covert california. i understand we have had about 125,000 applications that have been submitted. unique visits to the website. about 150,000 calls daily to cover california because people really do want to have coverage. there have been many benefits in my home state, about 200,000 people are covered with preventative care. have pre-00 kids who

existing conditions now have coverage. about 100,000 seniors are getting preventative care under medicare. i have had a number of people who have contacted me. i will just mention two. said he was paying $131 a month, and he is -- a week, and now he is paying $45 a month for his coverage. cynthia adams from santa rosa was paying $600 a month and now she is paying $134 a month. in full disclosure, as i have intioned to you privately, have had terrible messages from who are experiencing real problems with the system. usually, it is insurance some of myhat colleagues on the other side of the aisle have mentioned, are canceling their grandfathered in programs and policies, and

issuing new policies. i haven't even had a community college in my district using the affordable care act to reduce hours of part-time employees. just about everything that has happened that has been bad in the last three years has been associated with obamacare. think we need to draw the distinction and point people to these exchanges so they can do comparison shopping and get these policies that will provide them with insurance. i would like to see you guys do a more aggressive job in regard to that. i would like to know from you, ma'am, how are the state exchanges work in and what effects are the problems of the federal website having on state run exchanges and how are the new upgrades in the website and fixes going to affect state run changes like cover california? >> let me say the state-based

exchanges are doing a very good job. california, as you mentioned, has been a nice excess story. they are large and small states. california and new york are new state -- huge states having good success. workve been able to closely with them and we talked with them daily. they used to the hub for verification of information. the hub has worked pretty much flawlessly. they have been able to get information. the problems we are seeing inside the application process do not affect state-based exchanges. the information they are able to get. you all may have been aware there was an incident over the weekend with verizon that took the whole site down. it also took down the hub. states were impacted during the day sunday and into monday, with an issue with verizon. other than that, it has come and go and access the hub without difficulty.

>> thank you. i yield back my time. >> recognized for three minutes. >> thank you. welcome. i think in answering chairman earlier, you establish the fact of the nation's 2.7 million uninsured from 18-35 years of age, you will not reveal numbers on who is enrolled in the age group until sometime in mid- november, is that right? >> yes sir. mid-november. >> the same goes for applicants? you have no metrics on a number of applicants in the age group? >> we will release our metrics in november. >> how confident are you those in this age group will actually sign up for these changes, given they do not actually get it or mission on the plants unless they actually go through the application process? >> we have actually had feedback from individuals who have worked through the application process, who signed up and there have

been a good representation and stories in the age group as well. >> this is a tech savvy group and they are already being confronted with a major barrier with website problems and as you said earlier, the aca is much more than a website. we should all know we are going to see higher premiums in that age group. there have been a number of reports and studies to demonstrate that will be the case. clearly, the penalty is much lower than the cost of insurance. knowing something about the behavior of this age group, i have real concerns we will see adverse selection. >> i would remind you in this age group, many of them will be eligible for tax credit and that will help with premium costs. also, for those under the age of 30, there is an alternate catastrophic plan. >> i understand. if premiums go up, that means subsidies go up. is that correct cap up -- correct?

>> the premiums are based on your income. >> right. if the incomes what it is and your premiums go up, then subsidies go up. >> i will remind you what we saw on premiums, locked and loaded for 2014 -- it has been about 18% below what estimates were for premium increases. we have a good story to tell their. >> we see other evidence longer- term that we will see a bird -- onard presser -- pressure premiums. i understand what this will do. about what concerns we will see with premium costs. as they go up, subsidies go up. the burden on the taxpayer go up. deficits go up. >> premiums are going up at double-digit increases prior to the affordable care act. we are seeing a moderation of premium increases. >> that is a false dichotomy.

i do not accept that as a complete answer on the premiums. transparency is clearly important. you or hhs or cms, somebody ordered -- in the ministration, provide information on the test pairs cost with regard to the subsidies for 2015 and beyond? part of our information and reports we produce will include the information to you, yes. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. to associate myself with the remarks of mr. thompson. and mr. neale. a focus on an area i think this committee could become imminently involved in. i would like to went out what a success connecticut has been. i would like to commend the governor and lieutenant governor who have headed that up. tremendous success, including

more than one third of the people who have signed up for the program, under age 35. it demonstrates when you are working together and cooperating, that indeed, these things can work. out, theale pointed thing that is astonishing from a democratic view, democrats were to have their way in, we would've had medicare for all or a single-payer system. instead, we opted for coming together and ending up with a that the idea of the concept was the heritage foundation, piloted by a republican governor in a democratic state. so we come up with a private sector initiative. here is the deal. the deal is this. if this committee were to approach the issue the same way we did tax reform and say the following, we will take the very best of the public health best itthe very path -- can offer, including the national institute of science,

the national institute of health, the center for disease control, everything our public health systems within our state have brought together over these many years, and then do that in combination with the private sector so that we can take the entrepreneurial advantage that the private sector can bring to this remedy, and then take science and technology, most notably the genomic project that is going on that has untold benefits, what the american people want to see is to help them out, to solve their problem, to help them get better health care. end do not want to see this lists, less filling debate from the committee. i challenge the chairman, let's do what we did with tax reform and break down into individual groups and solve this problem together so that we are taking the best of the public sector the best of the private sector, and all of it, innovation,

technology, can bring to bear on changing the paradigm for the american citizen. so it is their health and well- being that becomes the focus, not the ideology of either pollard -- party, but the health and well-being of the american citizen. that is what this should be about. we can do it. by taking both sides of what both parties and both ideas can bring to this discussion, the best of the private sector, the best of the public sector, and everything science and technology and innovation can provide. there is more than $800 billion annually wasted inefficiency. this is the most inefficient economic system in the world. to solveme together that? use this to lead the way and set the example for what regular order can provide by challenging everybody to sit down in tax

reform and come up with a solution for the american public , not the ongoing debate. >> time has expired. >> thank you. thank you for your time today. independent recollection of driving around chicagoland. it was june of 2009. president obama was in town giving this speech to the ama. i knew i would be called on to make comments afterwards. i am listening to it on the radio. i am on michigan avenue downtown. i am listening and the president says the spirit it is a paragraph you are familiar with. i want to revisit now in light of constituent contacts i've had. he said this. i know there are millions of americans content with their health care coverage. they like their plan and value their relationship with their doctor. that means no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise. if you like your dr., it you will be able to keep your dr..

no parentheses. no exclamations. like your, if you health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. no one will take it away. no matter what. my view is that health care reform should be guided by a simple visible. fix what is broken and build on what works. that was a declarative statement by the president of the united oftes selling the passage the affordable care act. that deeply resonated with a lot of folks. he repeated and repeated and repeated it here he made other claims, like if your coverage will save $2500 on average per family and so forth. here's my point. diane from hoffman -- a 57-year- old breast cancer survivor. was reasonable for her to presume based on the plain language of the president and theanything subsequent, but

plain language of the president, that she would keep her coverage. here is her new reality. saysuessed the letter that they are unable to offer the coverage. monthte goes from 363 a to 713 a month, almost doubling. now, she had a pre-existing condition. it is not a question of whether her breast cancer was covert or not. she is being moved into a gold plan, which presuppose that she had decent coverage from before. you understand the level of frustration and concern about what many americans perceive to be a false claim from the administration? not that it was somehow changed or now, we have this wonderful plan for your life that says we know better than you, we will tell you what kind of coverage you want, diane knows exactly the type of coverage she wants. that is one concern.

the other is the website. who got another constituent is a professional in this arena and has spent countless hours advising climate -- clients. the advice is to take screenshots and protect yourself. my time is expired. can you understand the level of frustration based on the claim of the president of the united states, that people would or going to be able to keep what they had and it is not turning out to be true? i understand that for about that haderica employer-sponsored insurance, and they were satisfied with those plans, and they still have those plans. what we were dealing with in the affordable care act is the individual market, where the constituent -- you talk about it like she was able to have insurance. many people were blocked out due to pre-existing and other issues.

that is what we were trying to fix. that is when -- that is what i understand. >> all right. mr. bloom hower is recognized request if i ask a three-minute wetjen, will the administrator will have a chance to answer also? >> give it a try and we will see. >> thank you. dive in a little bit and follow-up on what my friend peter was talking about who waskly, the sheriff acting like a district attorney with you a little while ago. ability tor had the to stay in ar particular plan? is that sometimes beyond the control of the patient and the doctor in terms of networks? >> correct. -- so we can have a framework, but you will not be able to force doctors to stay, where insurance companies to keep. they change all the time. >> that is correct.

>> this notion that somehow, we would force insurance companies to never change policies, have we not seen one third to two thirds of the individual market change in the course of the year for the typical patient? >> absolutely. >> it is not anything my friend from the state of washington, which had 7 million people, arguably at least one million households, either uninsured or in the individual market, that they would see several hundred thousand people every year who would have those individual policies change. is that not true? >> that is true. prior to the four book here at, what they were assured us -- they -- what would happen with premiums, and they were still going through a churn of at least 50 three percent a year. we have stabilized a premium.

we no longer allow denial for increase and we are creating a more competitive market. washington is a great example. >> many of these people subject is because they find out they actually try and use the insurance and they find out, wait a minute, it is great insurance until you get sick, or until you bump up against artificially low caps. targets asmoving insurance companies do deeper dives about eligibility. part of it? >> that is true. >> is that going to be possible anymore, that people will have limits and get thrown off? that people will be able to go back into the history and throw them off? >> they will not. >> mr. chairman, part of what i find disconcerting is that people are in a never never think in thehey past, we have been able to force continue companies to

to offer, that we have been able to force doctors to be in the networks. withis entirely consistent the attempt of the affordable care act, to give them superior insurance, without those problems. i do think we are not really talking about apples and oranges. thank you. i will yield back. >> thank you for testifying today. question go back to a raised by the congressman following up on a question about the release of the numbers as the and -- total number of enrollees. he said, he would not release the numbers until mid-november. in a response to the question, he specifically said we made a group decision not to do that, not to release them until mid- november. who was part of the group to make that decision? what were the individuals part of accor's decision yucca >> i think it was in response to the question the secretary or the white house direct -- the answer

to that was this was a group decision. we actually sat down with the secretary and talked about what would make sense to request who was the group? groupde up the individually? >> different components within hhs. divisionsoperating and obviously, we had conversations while with white house staff as well. >> who was the white house staff? >> members of domestic policy council, it could've been members of budget -- what were the names? >> i do not recall. these were different series of meetings where we had a discussion about this. >> memos or e-mail exchanges between different component group members? >> i am not sure. i am happy to go back and take a look. andf you could take a look if you have e-mails and memos, please share them with the committee. secondly, your testimony indicates the problem experienced with the website is "unfortunately on a subset

of contracts for healthcare.gov that have not met expectations. is it the contracts that have not made the expectations, or is it the contractors implementing the contracts that have not met expectations? >> i am not sure which part you are referring to. >> the part on page two of your testimony. "unfortunately a subset of the contest for healthcare.gov have not met expectations." is it the contracts that have not met expectations or specs of -- specifications of the contracts not properly developed or properly executed, or probably in committed, or is it the contracts themselves, that have not performed properly echo >> i think, in the case of the -- and we have been working with a contractor, we had issues with timing and

delivery. >> who is the contractor? it is the contractor in that meetingnot expectations? >> we are working with them. are there provisions in the contract with that company that is a perfect -- fails to perform in any way, that it is to repay or refund back to the government, for funds you have allocated to it for the purpose of performance echo >> i can get you details. >> there is also a text search underway. >> time is expired. >> thank you. despite our democrat opposition committed to we making the best of the program. because of all of the changes that have occurred, 90% of seniors right now are satisfied. why? in my district, before that

vote, i made seniors know i would vote no and opposed. i told him the two reasons. hole, whene doughnut you're paying for premiums, you are not getting benefits. that was her rent is. number two, an outside source was not sitting down and being the third party to negotiate the prices of prescription drugs. lost. we lost the policy fight. what did we do? we went back to our districts and told our seniors at home he voted no. we would work with the bush administration to make it work. that is what we did. how many of you stood up to do that? none. zero. 0. let's talk and less hot water the line here. let's say it like it is. you refuse to expand many of these governors medicaid. they refuse to set up state

marketplaces through leaving millions of dollars in outreach on the table in education funding. and what happens? well, to those, i say this. to you i say this, who i deeply respect. on the floor of the committee and off the floor of the house, what are you going to do about the approximately 17 million children with pre- existing conditions who can no longer be denied health insurance coverage e to you want to go back? do you want to say, you are no longer covered any longer? are you going to tell the parents of those kids? which one of you will stand up and tell the parents of those children the game is over, sorry, that was just a phase? >> will the german yield? >> i will. -- youuld just tell you asked a question and i will answer it. it is a false choice to say it

is obamacare or nothing. there are enormous for postals, including the one i am cosponsored of. >> let me take the time back. are you serious? what you just said? are you really serious? ,fter what we have gone through after what we have gone through in the last 3.5 years? say you can sit there and you had a legitimate alternative after these years? we have gone through 44 votes, 48 votes now of you trying to dismantle this legislation. you call that cooperation? i do not. >> will the gentleman yield? you are asking questions. >> the general men's time has expired. dr. price is recognized. >> thank you. , madam administrator. i appreciate your testimony today and the work you are doing. i think the american people are looking in at this hearing and

shaking their heads. i spent over 20 years taking care of patients. side of thehis aisle want is the highest quality of care for all americans. affordable and accessible and provides the greatest number of choices. and continuous innovation in our health care arena so that folks can have the highest quality of care. our believe is firmly, and i think it is playing out now, that the aca violates every one of those principles. that is why we oppose the policy. there is not enough time to correct all of the record that has been stated. here is article for the new york post i would like to insert into the record. elderly new yorkers are in a panic after getting noticed companies are putting their doctors as a result under obamacare. the united health care told dr. liebowitz because of significant changes and pressures in the

health care environment, he is getting the ax on january 1, not that they were trying to force him into it, but that he would be getting kicked off the program. forcing insurance companies to change their plan? you bet they are. here is from carefirst, maryland. an individual sent me this letter. pick a requires you to new plan to maintain coverage because your current plan will ceased to exist at the time of your renewal. >> the letters will be in the record. >> thank you. i have specific questions i would like to have you answer. when did we become aware of the proms with the website? >> i think cms became aware of the problems in the first week when we have the volume search. clue therenot have a would be a problem on october 1 when the website went live? >> the problems we saw in the first week, we attributed to volume. once the volume started to back down -- how about before october

1 echo was there any sense there would be problems with the website? >> no. there are always going to be website, the new customary glitches you see, but no. not this. >> did you have any meetings with the layout -- the white house to inform them of any problems you anticipated? of any proms i anticipated. i talked earlier about programs theecided to delay, spanish. >> have you been involved in any conversations with the secretary here about delaying the individual mandate? >> no. we have discussed the individual mandate, but not about delaying it. >> there was a hearing last week in energy and commerce, one of the calm that -- contractors sayson the site, it applicants have no reasonable expectation of privacy and this was due to a decision cms made.

did you all make that decision? >> i will have to get back you on that. i will have to see what they were talking about. >> thank you. >> thank you mr. chairman. have lost count. 22. i think you are asked 22 times when it will be available. just to clarify for the last time, the information will be available sometime at the end of november? is that correct? >> that is what i said. mid-november. many times. >> i wanted to be clear to all my colleagues. the information will become -- available at the end of november. >> mid-november. >> i am sorry. mid-november. i appreciate that. you understand from the same party that attempted to repeal the affordable care act over 40 times, you understand that? >> i do. >> you understand the repetition is a part of the road here, that the more you ask it, the more

you try to repeal things, make you feel better about it. i just wanted you to be constant of that. you mentioned over 700,000 people have completed the application that then allows them to shop and compare plans with exact prices and available test credits. does that show the system is working, even with the problems you have already started addressing? >> the system is working. we would like it to work better and that is what we have committed to do by the end of november. >> key measures right now are the interests in the site, which is so impressive in terms of how many people are beginning to take the first steps of the process, for the first time, to afford insurance themselves in this country. is that correct? >> that is correct. every member on the republican side of the aisle, to a person, is opposed to the affordable care act.

>> yes. >> i am being a little rhetorical. do you understand they do not want you to succeed? you do not have to answer that question. they shut down the government of the united states of america in an attempt to repeal the affordable care act. pass the laugh test. that they somehow care about getting this right, or you, and anr performance, as administrator, of getting this right and making sure the health care law is enacted properly. are looking for problems to fix. my republican colleagues, when it comes to this issue, they are looking for problems to exploit. we can fix a broken website, but we cannot fix our broken ideas and a broken agenda. that is what they have offered to the american people.

i'm not asking you to comment. i am making a rhetorical statement in questions to you. it is very sad. they have nothing to offer. therefore, they will attack and tear down. it is much easier to tear down the building than to build the building up and i appreciate the work you are doing to get this right and make it work for the american people. with that, i yield back. >> thank you. mr. buchanan is recognized. >> thank you. welcome, madam administrator. last week in florida, i represent part of florida but looking at florida, we had over been00 people that have notified. some cancellations, some adjustments. it is probably hundreds of thousands more than that. it seems this one group in general, not just in florida but across the country, our independent contractors, you might look at a group like realtors that are self-employed,

that they are the most at risk in terms of their insurance or trying to buy insurance. they are getting cancellations. a part of that report, as you probably have read, is that they have known about it for three years. the administration has known about it. will they come forward and expressed concern about the one category? 16 million people, up to 80% are at risk and might lose their insurance? >> i am not sure what question you're asking? >> i'm just talking about people that are independent contractors, one segment, that are getting notices from blue cross and blue shield, one gentleman from florida last week. we got 300,000 notices from blue cross and blue shield. it seems it is concentrated on the small businessperson, a sole proprietor, or an independent contractor. >> i think the individuals who are getting these notices tend to be small businesses or

individually insured. that i am not aware of realtors for any one group. i can check into that. >> the other thing i wanted to mention, you said you thought in the last three years, rates have moderated. they have been going up 25% in my district. in my district, they have got them down somewhat. they made some adjustments. the other point i wanted to mention, i think you said, i'm trying to quote, you thought the system was working. did you say that? you thought the system is working? class i think we have seen a lot of improvements, yes sir. >> it is a public relations nightmare. i hope you honestly do not feel you think the system is working. this is an incredibly bad rollout. there is a lot that needs to be done. i cannot imagine how you could think the system is working. my concern is, with such bad experience and so many people going to the site and trying to get insurance, why would they want to get involved in a such a if they have had

better spirits up front? why would you want to get that youin a product might get the same treatment where he cannot get a hold of anybody in the future. >> if you talk to the individuals who have successfully enrolled, they will tell you they are quite satisfied with what they were able to get in terms of pricing and product. 78% of people have not been able to get through and i do not know how they could feel good about moving forward with health care if they cannot even get online to do this. >> mr. smith is recognized. >> thank you. think you to the administrator for sharing your insights today. aboutd from many citizens this transition. they are seeing higher premiums and deductibles, higher co-pays. saying ther you premiums are actually going down. could you assure some of these are seeing higher

premiums, virtually less coverage than they were previously expensing, could you assure them the premiums will be going down over time? >> i can tell you what i said estimates,d to cbo premiums actually come in 18% less than an estimate. the other comment i made is if you look at large groups insurance, what we are seeing are some of the lowest trends in terms of premium increases, in terms of five percent. i can tell you based on trend, it is coming down. >> i have also heard from citizens who went to the website with employer-provided coverage for that employee, but that employee had a family and he wanted to investigate in terms wouldther or not he qualify in the exchange for the subsidy, and was virtually unable to do so. >> what we have encouraged, there are some complicated families who will always need

assistance. that is why we have encouraged the use of the call-center. some folks, when they complete the application, they will have difficult questions. they will need to work within in person assistance. that is why the call-center exists and is available 20 47. a lot of folks are using it. >> the tax credit you mentioned basically suggesting it is a remedy for some of the increase cost through the aca, is that accurate? say increasedt remedy, assistance for the individuals of lower income levels. if you talk to people about why they do not have health insurance, it is two reasons. they cannot afford it, and they are at paris to admit they do not have it. we are trying to help folks and get information out there available to everyone, and we are trying to help with the costs. >> the dates that you mentioned, 30 for other

problems being rectified. how did you arrive at those dates? that weid all along would have information available on enrollment and other metrics after the end of the first month. the first month closes obviously this thursday. we will work with states to together metrics that will be available mid-november. that is something we have talked about for months internally. it was an operations decision. question, how we came about identifying the problems in the system and deciding the end of november, sitting down and look at the problems, deciding how long it would take for us to correct them, how long it would take for us to add the other issues, the issues with , spanish, etc. -- that is how we came up with the end of november. we also worked with the technical experts. that is part of the tech search. >> representative schwartz is recognized. >> thank you.

thank you for this opportunity. -- i you for being here don't want to talk about it too much, but the purpose of this hearing is really to acknowledge the difficulties and the deeply troubling initial rollout of the website that is supposed to enable all of our constituents and americans to access health care coverage in these health care market places. the fact is -- you acknowledge some of this -- there have been inexcusable and unacceptable rollout of the launch of this marketplace. as you know, millions of americans -- and they are in all of our districts -- our interest to obtain the information on the options for affordable coverage. with the consumer protections you pointed out, we saw the interest when millions of americans went online october 1, 20 13. the fact is, the administration really failed these americans.

they had an experience they should not have had. be ables have failed to to access information on these options and to be able to enroll the way the expected to and hoped for. the administration has failed and failed to properly test the website. that is the way it has been reported. they failed to take action to recognize and fix these problems along the way. you did in the beginning acknowledge that this initial experience was not a positive one. i appreciate that. i think so do they. you also have to acknowledge that the initial experience has actually done some damage to in thiss' confidence website, the marketplace, and potentially in the options they have available. this is not only an opportunity for millions of uninsured and underinsured americans to get affordable, meaningful health coverage, but it is also an obligation under law to make sure that this website works. that is the way they are going to find out their options and to be able to enroll.

going forward, there can be no more excuses. we need to hear it from you that there is actually a path forward. you can be as specific and explicit as you possibly can be with us and with the public to help regain our confidence and the public's confidence in the ability of the administration and the subcontractors and contractors to get this right. we have heard reports of a lack of coordination in implementing the different contracts. can you speak to -- again, if you can be specific about this -- i want to be able to go home and be able to say, this is going to work -- it has to work. that is the way americans will access this information and be able to sign up. we all know those people who are underinsured, uninsured, and they are looking for these options. moreeed to give us some explicit information about how you're going to better implement

and better coordinate these contractors to get this right for the american people. that is the information, that in my opening statement -- we to serve in the general contractor role. we at cms have been doing that. cms tends to oversee most programs. because of what i consider the failures in the initial rollout, we thought we needed to bring on additional expertise. we have brought that on in terms who will be accountable to me. i am accountable for this. that is one of the big things. categorydentified two issues. one had to do with system performance and speed. these were actually people who completed applications and did the work. it was just slow. we are an impatient society. we have added capacity and other things to deal with that and improve system performance grid i have some metrics there.

the other side are the defects, like the sticking in the application. i hope you have noticed -- we have started to do daily tech updates with the press to try to be more transparent about the problems and how we are fixing them so that you see continuous improvement. >> time has expired. you ought to supplement anything further. >> it would be helpful. >> mr. paulson? >> ms. tavener, thanks for being here. i know you've got a tough job. before october, i think much of the public was looking at the whole debate about obamacare or the affordable care act as some big political heated argument on capitol hill. many independent analysts for a long time have been predicting that there are going to be higher premiums, cancellations were going to be coming, you wouldn't be able to keep your doctor or health insurance, even though that was the promise laid out by the president in his state of union speech. now these are being confirmed from our constituents. we are hearing the stories about

these challenges and their own expenses. i look at tricia from bloomington who contacted me -- she said her rates are going up 30% in january. she has been looking at the exchange options. they are even more expensive. i've also heard from susan and roger. they like the plan they are on. they have been on it a few years. their rates are going to be going up another 20%. the insurance company notes that a lot of that is due to the regulations associated with the affordable care act. they have looked at plans on the exchange as well. they are more expensive. it is not the coverage they want. they have concerns about keeping their information private. they don't qualify for the subsidies that are offered. let me ask this question -- i want to better understand how the administration came up with the november 30 date or deadline. that is the new date. october 1 has moved to november 30. you have hired jeff zients. he is leading the effort. he said he has hired a new general contractor. they have a punch list of things

to get done. they've got milestones, testing dates, specific projects. can you tell us a little bit more about what the administration did to lead to the conclusion that the exchanges would be ready to go on november 30, and can you provide a list of the punchlist items to the committee? provide thei can punchlist and some of the work we are doing. that is not a problem. i can give regular updates to the committee. how we came up with a november 30 date is we actually pulled and a team of x -- external experts to take a look at the system, look at the problems, and say, is it fixable, and how long does it take? you will see continuous improvement week over week. we can give you some of those milestones. >> for three years you have been prepared for october 1, and now we have two months going to november 30. how do you know that this schedule will be kept, and what happens if you miss that date? what happens? >> i will remind you that in the isee years -- the system

working -- it's just not working as smoothly or as consistently as we want. the system is built. the hub is working. we were able to correct the create account issue, which was a big sticking point. now we are doing the rest of the fixes and improving system performance. >> you can provide a punch list committee? i think that will be very helpful as we move forward to the november 30 deadline. i yield back. >> mr. merchant? >> we've reached out to our constituents to find out what they're experiencing, trying to comply with the law. these are people that recognize it is the law. they are trying to comply. they are frustrated. basically isup getting on the website, sometimes it is taking hours, sometimes it is taking several days, but they are finally getting on there. they are finding that they can get care, but that their

premiums are raised significantly, sometimes doubled.that is the first group we are hearing from. the second group is a group that is receiving a cancellation from the insurance company. that prompts them to begin to think about it. they begin to think about complying with the law. these are not readily as people. these are people that really, sincerely are trying to comply with the law. they are finding out that they can't keep their insurance company, they can't keep their doctor, and they genuinely --ieve the president believed the president when he said that they could. these are people that are now very, very frustrated. they are going through this process. they are very angry to begin with. then they are very frustrated. then they get into a very fearful state. they are realizing that they

have been told that the website will be up and running by november 30, but they are also confusing -- maybe they are confusing the date that they 15, be signed up, december to have their policy go into effect on january 1. experiencingare fear that they will have a genuine gap in their service, regardless of the prices and conditions. i think that is something you should really be concerned about, that there is going to be a huge gap. the last group that i'm hearing have workedexas, we for years to come up with a high risk pool. we have a group of people that are not on medicare. they are not unmedicated. they are uninsurable. they have chronic illnesses. they are very vulnerable.

is there some effort being made by your organization to reach out specifically to those state, high-risk pools and give them additional assistance and pay some close attention to that group? that group, in many instances, is the most vulnerable of any group in america. >> i will remind you, this is a group that in previous years, before the affordable care act, that would have had no options. now they are insurable. these are folks that we are reaching out to. we are running the high-risk pools in many states. we also coordinate that with states that a running their own to help them transfer -- >> time has expired. mr. davis? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you very much for being here and answering our questions. frequent, theuite launch has gone extremely well.

first, as of the october 21, almost 300,000 unique visitors had gone to get withage on illinois.gov 132,344 visitors participating in the plan comparison screen or on the website. over 8000 people called to get since the launch. the medicaid expansion has been a huge success, as evidenced by approximately 100,000 people signing up for county care prior to the october 1 launch date. througha special waiver which residents of cook county can enroll early and start receiving health coverage in 2013 through cook county facilities.

in january, they will be rolled over to the regular medicaid program. another innovative program in illinois was an express enrollment process for snap recipients. in august, the state of illinois sent a notice to about 123,000 isp recipients -- that households with single adults, not disabled -- offering them an option for express enrollment into the newly eligible group by signing and returning the form. as of october 21, the state had received about 46,000 of those forms back and about 26,000 people had been enrolled. they are in the process of enrolling the rest. finally, the state has launched a new smart online application abeillinois.gov.

the new site was launched october 1, and the website has been functioning smoothly. the most recent data shows that 47,000 -- over 47,000 accounts have been created, and 28,729 applications have been cemented for processing -- submitted for processing. we have looked at our newspapers have expressed their analysis of what has taken place. "the northwest herald" reported that through only two days "get covered illinois" had more than 230,000 visitors and nearly 800,000 page views with more than 5000 applications. the associated press stated that chicago hairstylist and

bartender mike leon called the federal call center after he tried the federal website five days in a row and couldn't get it to work. the call-center staff helped him, and he got through in two minutes. has been perhaps different. i think you very much and yield back. >> ms. black is recognized. >> thank you for being here today. i want to go back to what dr. price said. this really is about patients. as a caregiver for over 40 years, i certainly know and have heard for my patients over the years about pre-existing conditions. i do think that we probably could have fixed that without having a total government takeover, as we are seeing. it is not about politics. it is about patience. i want to go something -- to something for my state. i have received overwhelming numbers of stories from my constituents with concerns about the health care law. in fact, in my own hometown newspaper they reported that more than 28,000 tennesseans are

now losing access to the state sponsored -- state-sponsored insurance program. seniors, children, and small businesses. one small business owner, greg, from my district, sure the story with me, and i want to share it. i operate a small painting business. i was very happy with the small businesses and their employees. it had a small co-pay and covered us for $25,000 each year. covered 12 doctors visits and an annual physical at reasonable cost. this program is being canceled effective january 2014 because it doesn't make a minimum garments of obamacare. this directly contradicts the promise made by president obama that we could keep our existing program. they had affordable health care that they liked, but they didn't get to keep that. i ask, is this right, or is this just for this group of people? citizens of

tennessee are now forced to find new coverage plans on helped her website that doesn't work. -- on the website that doesn't work. when we talk about fairness and there are people out there that this is not fair or just for. the lamentation, we understand that the contractors who made the website did their own unit cms was responsible for the end to end testing or the systems integrated testing, making sure that each unit worked properly with the next unit. that testing failed. every contractor has said that cms made the decision to move forward with the launching of the website. you claim that you didn't know that there were search problems with the website, but cms is the project manager on this. cms call the shots. there was incompetent management on your part or cms's part, or you ignore those fundamental concepts that were

taken into account when the website was built. why, ifo know sufficient systems integrated testing was not conducted, and you made the decision to move forward with website -- was there a systems integration testing that was actually done? >> so, the testing was actually done -- we started testing almost immediately. it was kind of continuous testing. i think what you are asking is, did we do testing across the hub and all the agencies? the answer is yes. that was done. the question inside the f -- f fm. that was done. >> those tests were done. stress tests, load tests, how you accounted for and tested for peak hours? >> stress testing and load testing were done good in retrospect, -- were done. in retrospect, we were expecting

three times the volume that we saw in the medicare part experience. we are dealing with a much smaller population. in the first few hours of the site, it had probably five times the volume that we ever projected. in retrospect, we could have done more about load testing. >> i want to know if we can get a copy of those tests so we can actually see what was done. >> if you can make those results available to the committee, we'd appreciate it. mr. young is recognized. thank you, mr. chairman. thanks so much for being here. manager andproject a management consultant, i'm perplexed as to the genesis of some of these problems with respect to the website and the broader rollout. i would like to explore with you maybe what the problems were. let me step back and talk about the issue of openness and transparency. it was cbs news that last week

reported, that as we went into the summer of 2012, there were certain key regulations that contractors were waiting on. they had to be issued in order for them to continue to do their work, put forward requirements for their i.t. systems, and put together healthcare.gov. could we put up a slide to illustrate some of the regulatory issuance patterns? we see that over the couple of ofrs preceding the summer 2012, we had 109 proposed revelations put forward by hhs, and starting the summer before the presidential election, we had zero regulations all the way through the election. 60ce that time, we have seen regulations put forward by hhs. is, -- cbs to you news did indicate some of the rules were ready to go back in june or july, according to one insider that the quoted in the report -- why did hhs stop issuing regulations, as the

said, the quarterback of this website? >> i don't know if at any point we stopped issuing regulations. as you can see, it was a continuous process. --ulations >> there was a gap. >> i do see that cap. it is a two month. i don't know if that would be unusual. i'm happy to go back and map the last four years -- we've probably had too many gaps. >> did cbs news miss that? >> i don't know. we have had a continuous regulatory process going on. we have worked with the public. there is a lot of back-and-forth between us and the omb. it is not unusual for a regulation to take two months, four months, or longer. >> you can ensure is that politics played no role in that? >> regulatory process was continuous. at no point were we not either working on a white papers,

proposed revelations, or getting something done. >> there are real consequences to our constituents for the failures and shortcomings of this website. >> let me ask you -- let me talk to you about -- >> i've got a limited time. >> i wanted to explain the problems with website. do you want me to explain the problems? >> i would ask you to submit supplemental material. a website. it is an insurance program. a website just looks at things. this is a consultative program tied to 34 states, including very individualized state programs. people need to understand that. >> i would like to go back to healthcare.gov, which is the website associated with signing up for required government- sanctioned health care. one of my constituents rights on behalf of his wife who was told by her insurer that due to health care reform, effective 4, the policy will be

terminated as of january 1, 2014. when can she sign up for her health care? >> doesn't go on to talk about other policies? >> it goes on and says she has canceled. >> she's eligible and needs to sign up -- she can sign up to that individual insurer. >> mr. becerra? >> thank you very much. appreciate your being here. i think it has become very clear. i hope that all the hearings that take place we understand that we have to work together. it is unacceptable to have an important part of the health insurance program, this website, not work the way it should. let me give you a quick example. a 34-year-old male from los angeles, andrew stryker -- he has been reported in a number of press reports -- he waited three hours to try to get on the website and finally had a chance to apply. he says that was tough. the good news for mr. stryker is he is saving $6,000 as result of

being able to apply for the plan. it is unacceptable for anyone to have to wait even three hours. even though he said he would have waited all day given would the result -- given the result he got, what we want is for everyone to experience $6,000 in savings. maybe not that much or more. we want them to the health security that you and every single member of this committee have when it comes to health care. we don't have to worry about going bankrupt if we have to take our child to the doctor, to the hospital. that's what andrew streicher now will have. let's six this website. let's not fixate on the website. let's fix the website. if i could have been put on the screen the application process -- today, if you apply for the affordable care act insurance, you have three pages. the third page is more of this interchange. -- more of a signature page. if we could have the slide. next

you had some 12, 13 pages you would have to fill out, many of them asking personal questions, thatdeep, medical, probing was done from strep throat to allergies, acne, all the way to whether you had cancer, heart disease. you could even be asked if you have a learning disability. could you explain why we all of a sudden went from a 13 page application that really probes into your personal life to one that is only three pages long? aware, thankswell to the changes in the affordable care act, there is no longer the pre-existing denial. everyone is entitled to insurance. that was part of the culprit the other thing that -- part of the goal. the other thing is, people may talk about the affordable care act or obamacare, but once you get through there and you talk about what is going on for them, if they had a child with resisting condition, most of

them had issues with insurance. they had to go through this consultative process. they like what they are getting now. >> no longer will i get asked if i have heart disease or acne. i can apply, and i won't have to worry about what my personal lifestyle is great i will be able to get insurance. this 13-page application is now history for all of those folks who hadn't -- had to apply through the individual insurance market. i hope we will fix the website so we can get to the process of getting folks like andrew stryker $6,000 in savings. >> mr. griffin? >> thank you so much for being here. i've heard a lot of good things about your work from leader cantor, eric cantor. thank you for being here. i wish you well. that as int to say tried to indicate earlier, it's really a false choice to say, it's obamacare or all the things

and helpedever fixed her world have to continue. there are many different options between there. i have signed onto legislation that would also do with pre- existing conditions. i want to make clear to the public, to imply that you have to take all of what obamacare printrs to get to existing conditions, or you get none of that addressed -- that's just not true. we can have that debate. i have heard from a lot of our constituents. i want to read a message i got through the website from a constituent. jennifer and she says, "i am an arkansas state employee. we received a newsletter from the employee benefits division during open enrollment. our insurance coverage is less now and costs more. wereys, "these changes

made to more closely align the plan with the affordable care act. because of this, the value of the plans were lower to be more in line with the law." i am quite disgusted. just because the federal government is starting a health insurance market place doesn't mean that my coverage needs to change. but it has. it has changed for the worse. if you need a copy of this newsletter, please let me know. thank you for working on this problem." i have a copy of the newsletter here. there are a lot of people that tell that story. i have pages of it. yes, there are people that are getting coverage because of pre- existing conditions. my point is, you don't have to do it this way. that's why a lot of us continue to have a problem with the law. yes, we have voted 43 times or so, but what the talking points don't tell you is seven of those

votes became law because the president agreed to those things. the idea that we have had the same exact boat 44 times is talking point nonsense. i guess what i would ask you is, are these increased premiums and increased co-pays, is that just the cost of providing more access to health care? ,hat do i say to people who say who ask, why am i paying more? do i tell them, that is a tax? that's a tax you've got to pay so that more folks have access. is that fair? is that what it is really? >> what i would say to those folks, it's going to depend on their individual situation. if they are in a group market where they already had a group employer-sponsored insurance, that is a different situation. if they are in the individual market, they now have access to

health care. they now have a competitive market. >> the time has expired. mr. shock -- schock? >> let's talk about a website that does work. now, ifhouse.gov right you go to whitehouse.gov, health insurance reform a reality check, the headline. you can keep your health insurance if you like it. it is currently on their website. linda douglass of the white house office of health reform debunks the myth that reform will force you out of your current insurance plan if you like it, force you to change doctors. to the contrary, reform will expand your choices, not eliminate them. whitehouse.gov then cites three sources to substantiate their claim. one of them is a blog post by linda douglass. one is a video of a press conference the president did in july. one of them is a telecom townhall posted by aarp.

if you click on them, interestingly the first question that the president was asked at the teletubby all came from a woman named margaret in colorado. she said, mr. president, i've heard that i could lose my health insurance. the president says, here is a guarantee that i've made; if you have insurance that you like, then you'll be able to keep that insurance. that is on whitehouse.gov. reality check is their headline. let me tell you the reality check that millions of americans in my district are getting. from jacksonville, illinois just made this letter today -- it's from blue cross, blue shield. blue cross blue shield health insurance that you currently have no will no longer be available after december 31. $474premiums will go from

first5 effective generate -- january 1. she writes, i don't understand how my current policy can legally be canceled since i'm already doing what i'm supposed to do. say to ms.upposed to york in jacksonville, illinois? do is first thing i would i would encourage her to go talk to the website or go to a call center and see what is available on the market. >> she was told by the president, to whitehouse.gov website, if you have health insurance that you like, you will be able to keep it. she has health insurance that she likes. she has been paying her premiums. she wants to keep it. that she can't. isn't that a lie? >> there has always been the issue where issuers have the ability to stop offering policy. the issuersis not

wanting to stop to operate policy. issuer is saying, we are being mandated that we can't continue to offer this policy. it is a yes or no question. the white house website says, if you want to keep the hope insurance you've got, you can keep it. now they are being told that they can't. issuers were grandfathered in in 2010. they are choosing to make it different decision. >> mr. kind? tavener, thank you so much for your patience and your indulgence for today. let me ask you to end on a high note. i think all the questions surrounding the aca website has been asked and answered and exhausted. i'm sure secretary sibelius will be here tomorrow answering a lot of the same questions. really the key to all of this is making sure that all americans have access to quality, affordable health care coverage in their life. there may be different ways of doing it, but the real key is affordable. what can we do to help bend the cost curve within the health care system so it's more

affordable for all americans? cost containment. you have been given a lot of tools in the affordable care act for cost-containment, trying to get better value, good quality of care at a much better price. what are you seeing out there right now in that regard and whether or not it is sustainable in the future? >> that's a great question. what we have seen in our early work with the innovation center -- obviously, targeted at the medicare publishing -- the more we tie quality and outcomes to payments, the better results we are getting for the individual and the lower the cost trend. we have had probably three years of the lowest cost trend in medicare that we have seen in the last 50 years. that doesn't mean that we don't have to keep fighting it every day. we also work with issuers on the private side so that they align their quality programs and their indicators the same as we, so that the trend is not just a medic or, but across the entire environment. a lot of work to do.

>> i saw a recent data coming out about per beneficiary costs for medicare being revised downward yet again. that is going to be the key to our long-term unfunded liabilities that we are facing that are driving these budget deficits. i think there is a lot that is going -- mr. chairman, i would respectfully recommend that some future hearing we call ms. tavener back mainly focus on cost containment within the health care system so we can delve into it in greater detail. >> i'm sure she will be interested come back. [laughter] we have two more. mr. reid and mr. kelly? >> thank you, mr. chairman. we worked together before. i appreciate that relationship. you have demonstrated to me in that relationship in those prior dealings a very high level of competence. i have been listening to your testimony today. i really want to focus on my oversight responsibilities on this committee. you had indicated to mr.

buchanan that you were not aware prior to october 1 of any problems with the website. did i misinterpret your response to mr. buchanan's question? >> no, we had tested website. we were comfortable with its performance. ,ike i said, we knew all along with any new website, there would be some individual glitches we would have to work out. the volume issue in the creation of the cap issue was not and obviously took us by supply -- by surprise. >> it didn't show up in testing. when i read "the new york times" article that talked about confidential progress reports showing senior officials repeatedly expressing doubts of the computer systems would be ready on time, blaming delayed relations, a lack of resources,

and other factors, is that report inaccurate? your microphone. >> sorry. we were working in a compressed timeframe, for sure, but how we chose to resolve some of that, some of the things that were delayed, the programs that have been delayed -- shop, medicare account transfer, spanish -- there were three or for programs that we said, ok, we will not be able to adequately test those. we went through testing on the remainder of the website. we also had independent validation. obviously, your initial testing, you find errors, you correct them. we went through the testing process. >> you made some determinations to delay and suspends some of the programs. then you mentioned you have done that through a group decision- making process. there was a question as to who was involved in the decision- making process. you are very hesitant to give any names involved.

do you know him -- the names? >> the program delay recommendations were cms. we made those recommendations to the secretary in september. >> did she unilaterally make the decision to delay it, or did she informed the white house -- informed the white house? >> i informed the white house staff. >>: the white house staff did you inform? >> i'm just saying it was staff within the white house. i'm happy to get the information. >> you don't know the name of the staff member? >> i was talking with several staff. i'm happy to get you that list. >> why can't you tell me the name? >> i want you to give the entire list. i want to give you the data. i think that is appropriate. >> mr. kelly? >> thanks for being here. i know you have a great deal of experience in the private sector. to -- iion comes back know we have had a lot of talk

about how it is not working -- this failure to launch is really troubling to me. it is all about the process. who is in charge of this? is it you? >> i'm in charge of the program. >> you got to inspect what you expect/ were there any expectations at all? we keep hearing, we didn't expect this level, this volume -- it's incredible for me to sit back and understand that that is possibly the case. i think this was designed to fail for the -- from the beginning. foras never achieved success. it just wasn't. if you are telling me the bid process, the people that got the ,inal bids to build the site there is no bid process, right? >> there was. >> they competed against other people. is there a performance bond included? >> yes, i'm sure there is good i need to check on that. >> i want to get an answer to that.

to my knowledge, there is absolutely no performance bond. >> i am not the contracting specialist. >> no, but you are in charge of its prudent use got to have oversight. i am deeply disturbed that we are talking about a site that started off with an expectation of cost. it has gone way off the charts. there is no concern about that, all right? this is not about health care. this is about a website that from the very beginning, after three years and all this investment, we still can't get up and on? if you say you are in charge, i'm expected get answers from you as to who was there, how did these people get the bid, where they held accountable for their lack of performance, and is there a performance bond in their that allows the american people to recover some of their money? not one penny come from the government. >> i'm happy to get you that information. -- theseot to tell you cost overruns are off the charts. the idea that somehow there is

an answer in the future is unacceptable. we have driven the gap between what the marking people expect and what they do now expect from a government -- so little. my little town in pennsylvania, they had to bid for police cars. part of that was a 10% performance bond. i can't understand how little town that has a $7.8 million budget can ask for those types of guarantees from bidders, responsible bidders, and the united states government cannot. the cost of this, if it is actually true, if it really started off and you expected somewhere around $100 million to be spent, and it is now over $600 million, and that doesn't include any other rollout costs -- can we sit here and talk to the merrick and people with any degree of confidence and say, we've got your best interest at heart? this is an absolute incredible, incredible lack of efficiency and response ability on behalf

of the administration. it doesn't surprise me. this is the way they operate with every single thing. i can't believe that everybody is finding this out because of what they read in the newspaper. if you had the tests going, you couldn't possibly secure today and say, it's going exactly the way we expected it. >> thank you. time has expired. as a reminder, any member wishing to submit a question for the record will have 14 days to do so, and if any members submit questions at this hearing, i would ask that the administrator respond in writing in a timely manner. i want to thank administrator tavener for her testimony today. i appreciate your continued assistance as we answer some of the questions raised at this hearing. i appreciate your offer of regular updates. with that, this committee is adjourned.

>> the head of the centers for medicare and medicaid services marilyn tavener testified before the house ways and means committee about the new helped a lot. after the hearing, committee chairman dave camp and the ranking member sander levin spoke to reporters. >> adjustments to prevent great increases in higher health care costs. >> what can congress do? >> i think we will have to find out what the issue is. there are a lot of them. congress passed the law. we can certainly look at that. i think the issue is people are

losing their coverage, their rates are going up, and it looks as though they are going to go up even more when new insurance bids come out next year. the concern is that not enough young people are enrolling in the plan. andl we get the information the administration is withholding that right now, it is going to be very hard to evaluate her legal in the future. >> do you think the administrator was not forthcoming about enrollment numbers? >> we didn't get anything from her on that street i don't know what she could have done, but we didn't get any enrollment information from her today. i think that was a big disappointment. very disappointing. you called again today for the delay in the individual mandate. what do you think the administration should be doing in the meantime? are you committed to fixing the website if indeed this delay does not look like they have done a short-term delay.

we really need to have a delay for a year as they have done for big business. clearly, individuals are going to be faced with a tax or potentially lose part of their refund if they don't have insurance through the affordable care act. >> are you committed to getting the website fixed within the time window? >> are they committed to doing it? i hope they are. it's not just about glitches on the website. it is really about the structure of the way obamacare was put together, depending on a certain enrollment next that we don't know if they are getting. if they don't get that, insurance premiums will be much higher than they even are now. that is a worry. >> if you delay a mandate, then premiums will be a lot higher next year. there will be no counter force to get people to enroll. >> the problem -- the way you

want to get people to enroll is to have less costly plans than they have now. the factproblem is that now business doesn't have to comply, but individuals do. as we are hearing, most individuals are losing the coverage they want, and their premiums are going way up. of her do you make laying some of the blame on the cgi federal and their timing of delivery work, whereas contractors blamed a cms? >> i can't believe there weren't regular reports from contractors to the agency. we have not really explored that piece of it. it would seem to me that there would be regular updates. i would like to ask the contractors that question. >> one more. thank you. >> congressman, how are you?

>> i'm fine. aboutublicans make a lot people getting their insurance canceled and saying the president said, if you like your insurance, you can keep it, and people are finding out differently. did the administrator give an adequate response to that? >> i think so. let me tell you what i think was the most significant part of this hearing. chainsaw.eded is a the truth of the matter is, republicans have had a chance out for the aca for three years. when he said, what is needed is think, is, that, i exactly what has been the republican purpose all along. , ithe this hearing today think it further illustrated that. it was revealing that mr.

reichert would say, a chainsaw. the contrast between what we did a number of years ago with medicare part a and what republicans have done -- i went back and looked at a newsroom -- a newsletter saying, i voted against it, but i will try to make it work. what republicans are trying to do is to clearly make sure it doesn't work. chainsaw, i think i can't carry it around, but if i could, i'd maybe have a small chainsaw that all carry around my pocket is how theis republicans have approached health care reform. in terms of the so-called cancellations, i think it was bywered very effectively

blue cross blue shield. they said they sent out several hundred thousands of notices, and what they are trying to do is help you transition to a new so they can go to the exchanges, they can talk to blue cross blue shield. every year, there are good numbers of people who have their policies canceled or policies changed. several hundred thousand, many aren't effective january 1. the insurance carriers have a chance -- had a chance to continue. ify were grandfathered and they continue their present policies. if they change them, then they have to notify the people who have had the opportunity to have another policy. i read the example of the person from michigan who had the notice from blue cross blue shield of michigan and went and got a better policy. have to do, people

talk to their insurance carrier who wrote to them, and also go to the exchange and see if they can find a better policy. also, see if they are subject to a tax credit. >> do you think it was unusual that she wouldn't say if she was getting updates on the enrollment numbers? >> no, i think it is forthcoming. they need to get the information from the state exchanges. they need to get them in terms of the federal exchange. i think what they really want to do is to highlight the need for everyone -- [inaudible] then they will give a complete report by november 30. from michigan, where somebody gets a letter and signs up for a new plan that is cheaper -- three evidence -- force constituents who have heard from, is that the norm? >> i think, for some, it is

true, especially if they have a tax credit. for some, it might not be. remember, they are getting a better policy. the reason is, what has happened placedmum standards were into the law, applicable to all andcies that were changed weren't grandfathered. hadhe insurance carrier decided to grandfather it, that's fine. if they didn't, what they have theiris to notify customer. we don't really know yet. i'm going to be talking to blue cross blue shield of michigan. i did yesterday. i did sunday. i'm going to be talking to them today. >> what kind of questions do you have for the contractors? they weren't your today, but if you could question them -- some of thehink

contractors -- some of it was done well. jeff zients is good have to figure out how much of it related to the integration of all of these different crosses his -- processes. i think the answer is, we are really not sure. i think the integration of these various processes turned out to be more complicated than e xpected, partly because they did not expect the volume, and also, it turns out they have a checklist and they are not going to go through every single aspect of these. clearly, integrating this was -- was complicated and turned out to be more complicated than was expected. >> republicans have indicated they want somebody to get fired over this. do you think the administration

is taking responsibility for the problems with website, and do you think somebody should ultimately get fired? asked --t sure she was she said she apologized. says shearilyn tavener takes responsibility. no, i think the main focus should now be on fixing it. ishink part of this effort not where the focus should be. ok? were all settled. >> thank you. health secretary kathleen sabella is will testify on capitol hill about challenges and lamenting the new health care law. she will be at the health energy -- house energy and health committee tomorrow. that is live on c-span 3. >> senate republican leader

mitch mcconnell weighed in on the technical problems the healthcare.gov website has been having. he spoke for about 10 minutes on the senate floor. at this point, senators from both parties can agree, healthcare.gov is a rolling disaster. more,day seems to bring near-comic calamity. we are about visitors being told things like, their wife is really their daughter, or that they have multiple spouses, or that they are unable to apply due to current incarceration. just 12% ofly, americans think the rollout has gone well. that's less than 14% of americans who believe in bigfoot. those who succeeded in actually enrolling in a plan are badly outnumbered by those who have actually lost their plans.

the real tragedy is many who have succeeded are finding out the product is actually worse than the website. the only thing the website seems to be good at right now is creating punchlines for late- night comedians. it is almost like americans are being forced to live through a realized "saturday night live" sketch, and if you caught last week's opener, it's getting harder to tell the obamacare headlines from the obamacare punchlines these days. numbers,lications, 800 applying by fax. obamacare appears to be leaving us boldly into the 1980s. remember, before this thing administration swear up and down that obamacare was ready to go. democrats in congress told that the laws of limitation was fabulous. and it waspossible

fabulous. the president reassured everyone that it was working the way it was supposed to. of course, washington democrats bragged about their fancy new website, a website that cost $100 million, two hundred million dollars, $300 million -- no one is quite sure. that is one of the unanswered questions we hope they will clarify soon. to be fair, the president likes to say that obamacare is about more than just a website. he's absolutely right. that's why fixing website won't solve the larger problem here. the larger problem is obamacare itself. the larger problem is what the few people who have actually signed up for coverage have discovered about this law. the larger problem is how obamacare is hurting people out there. it is about college graduates and middle-class families getting hit with massive premium increases they can't afford.

it's about workers seeing their hours cut and their paychecks shrink because of this law. it's about millions of americans who will lose their current health coverage because of obamacare despite the president's promises. according to news reports, the obama administration knew for at least three years that millions of americans would not be able to keep their health coverage. the president's press secretary basically admitted yesterday that americans would lose coverage. this is the same president who said, and i'm quoting, "if you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep her health care plan, period. no one will take it away, no matter what." that is what the president said. this is one of the many reasons americans feel betrayed. one woman quoted in "the los angeles times" put it this way -- all we have been hearing for the last three years, if you

like your policy, you can keep it. i'm infuriated because i was lied to. here is how one north carolinian put it to nbc news -- everybody's worried about whether the website works or not, but that's fixable. that's just the tip of the iceberg. this stuff isn't fixable. that was after he lost a $228 a month plan and was faced with the choice of taking a $1208able plan for instead of $228 a month. the best option he could find on the exchanges went for $948 a month. thisitting here looking at and thinking, we ought to just pay the fine and just get insurance when we are sick, he said, after looking at all of that. americans and on down the country are beginning to experience the cost of obamacare firsthand. they are realizing that they are the ones stuck with the bill.

it is not fair. it is not right. republicans are going to keep fighting to get our constituents release from this -- relief from this partisan lot. the most logical course would be to simply stop this train wreck and start over. washington democrats still appear more interested in protecting the president's thanake, his legacy protecting their constituents from this law. i hope that will change because we can't move forward without democrats. we have seen some signs that at least some democrats are coming around, slowly, slowly, much more slowly than we would like, and i'm happy to engage in discussions to see where we might find common ground. hopefully, we will eventually get to the increasingly obvious and game -- and game, repeal, followed by true, bipartisan health care reform. it may be universally accepted that healthcare.gov is a

disaster, but as the president reminds us, that disaster does not exist in a vacuum. failure of the obama to website is emblematic of a larger failure of obamacare itself and of the kind of problems we can expect if washington democrats continue their stubborn defense of this partisan law. now, mr. president, on another .atter