that unacceptable message up about obama care. the president will be joined in the rose garden by people that the white house says have benefitted from signing up successfully through the website. now, at the same time he's going to talk about the glitches and what he's about to do to fix them. >> i think that there's no one more frustrated than the president. hhs has got plans to fix this and it has to fix it. it has to be done right. >> ahead of today's speech the administration put a new post up that discusses the frustrations that many americans have experienced and promising a tech surge to address them. one specialist telling "the new york times" that as many as five million lines of software code need to be rewritten. >> so these aren't glitches? >> the website to a first aapproximation simply isn't working. that's been true for a couple of weeks now. it is getting better. but when the obama administration calls them glitches, i think they're underplaying the problem. >> today there are growing calls from republicans in congress for kathleen sebelius to formally

testify about the issues about the site, even democrats saying that the health and human services secretary's testimony is a matter of when, not if. >> the secretary's view that she doesn't have to testify, doesn't have to answer questions, is too busy for that is unsustainable and she won't be able to sustain it. >> ultimately secretary sebelius will testify before congress, you know that. >> joining me with a preview of the president's remarks, peter alexander. so, peter, what website changes are in the works and what specifically do we understand that the president is going to give as a reason to why this was so botched on the rollout? >> yeah, thomas, i doubt in terms of the latter, i doubt he'll lay out exactly what went wrong. he'll probably focus less on the problems and more on the solutions. you noted that tech surge, the health and human services putting out that blog statement acknowledging some of the changes that are already taking place right now. let me show you if i can right now one of the changes that already exists. this happened overnight. on the front of the

healthcare.gov website, you can see it there for yourself, it demonstrates the fact that people can apply online or apply by phone. that's different. the president will certainly make the case that the health care law is about more than just botched, at least at this point, a flawed website, it's about affordable health care. they will point out among other things that 50% more agents are available at call centers to help people that want to apply right now. among the things that critics of health care website and of the health care plan in general will indicate is the fact that the white house still will not say exactly how many people have enrolled to this point. they point to the number 19 million unique visitors to date over the last three weeks but comparatively that's not that big when you compare it to other websites, maybe ranks like 200 or 250th of all the websites that are out there right now. the president will do his best to look forward, not look to the past. over the next several days

expect to see cabinet members and other top officials of this white house spreading out over the country trying to make the case for themselves, particularly among people in areas with high populations of the uninsured. >> peter, thanks, buddy. appreciate it. joining me, dr. ezekial emanuel. it's great to have you with me and -- >> it's nice to be back. >> there are a lot of skeptics wondering how troubled the rollout has been. do you feel like this is worse than the obama administration has let on and been willing to say? >> i think all of us have been surprised and frustrated, and i think there are some serious problems. we don't know how serious. and i think it is important to be up front and maybe even the white house doesn't know how serious the glitches are, because once you fix one problem, other problems may turn up. i do think it's probably useful to get the a double plus team out there working on it.

i hope that's who they assembled. i do think we need to have regular updates. i would say that one other thing which hasn't been mentioned that would reassure me is to make sure we have someone who's actually overseeing the whole process who has good managerial skills, understands the government and government side of things but also understands private insurance and the e-market side of things. getting that kind of executive running the whole show i think would be a reassuring thing. not just for the next four or six weeks but for the next couple of years to make sure everything goes well. nobody has mentioned that. i think this is a management problem. >> it's a lot of synergy you've just described going on there. as a former adviser to the president, do you find yourself thinking, oh, man, they really messed up on this? again, this is taking the attention away from what the aca is doing. it's allowing people that have been disenfranchised in this country without easy access to affordable health care and so many people are focusing on a

bad website that people can come out and say it's wrechd, nobody can sign up. it's not about the law, it's just about the website. >> well, it is about the big part of the law which is enrolling people. it's not the whole law, as you point out, it's one portion of the law. but again, i think it should have been done better. it should have been managed better and implemented better from the start. i'm sure the people in the white house, the ones i know, including the president, are kicking themselves that it wasn't better and brought up to snuff quicker. an there's no sugar coating that. >> right. >> people screwed up and they need to be -- it needs to be fixed. i think the important question from my standpoint is we have about four or five weeks to get it up so people begin enrolling. the enrollment numbers now are not the important thick. the question is by thanksgiving is it going to be up and running smoothly enough that the millions of people who want to get insurance can get insurance and is it working at that time. that gives, again, the

administration four weeks to get it up and rolling and i think now it's really a matter of executing better. >> but, zeke, i'm sure advocates want to know the enrollment numbers to trump those numbers and those against this want to know those numbers and say they're not so great. >> i think all of them are misguided. we shouldn't be focusing on the numbers at the moment, because most people aren't going to enroll until the few weeks before it becomes effective. >> well, the rnc is still filing a freedom of information act because they want to know the numbers of successful purchases and also the data on successful enrollee data collected. there's also this house hearing, and we brought this up, peter brought this up, scheduled this week for gop lawmakers calling on secretary kathleen sebelius to testify, and potentially also others calling for her resignation. how accountable do you think that she should be held for the website failures? and again, you bring up a great point about the law being a

mandate, that everybody needs to get signed up for this and enroll through the website. so where is the accountability from her standpoint? >> well, the president is going to have to answer who he's going to hold accountable for the implementation. i do think the important thing is to get it up and rolling in the next four weeks. you know, we could have managed it better, it should have been managed better and it should have been more effect if on day one, and i think that when you look at state websites that have gone up like california, like colorado, it's easier to shop there so we know it could have been done properly, and i think that's the key issue. but the real question is not the enrollment numbers, i keep saying that. the key question is can we solve the problems in four weeks so it works pretty smoothly and then for the next couple of years to make sure it's really as easy to shop on healthcare.gov as shopping on amazon. >> do you think, though, as peter was talking about too, that the president is not going to focus on so much of the

problem, you know, admit that there have been problems, but talk about proactively what solutions are being enacted. you know, the b plan that's going to have to roll out now. >> again, let me just outline. one, it would be good to announce who's going to be managing it and making sure that person has the right set of managerial, technical and insurance experience to do it. two, we need daily updates to understand what are the actual problems, how are they being fixed. and three, we need to keep them focused on four weeks from now, making sure that it's working properly with milestones each week. i think they're going to have to have daily briefings and a lot of transparency and get some of those tech wonks out there to explain what went wrong and how they're solving it to reassure the public. >> the onus is on the administration now to prove -- isn't there's no doubt about it. >> zeke, thanks for being here. i appreciate your time. the president expected to speak from the rose garden at 11:25.

we'll carry those remarks live exactly when they happen. the president's upcoming speech is also the subject of our big question for you today. do you think the president can fix the problems with the obama care website? weigh in on twitter and/or facebook. and then virginia kicks nearly 40,000 names off the state's voter rolls despite an ongoing lawsuit and objections from democrats. why a judge says there's no proof anyone is being denied the right to vote. plus -- >> i'm so ready to jump to "i do." >> did you hear that? senator-elect cory booker stays up late to preside over midnight marriages in new jersey. i'm going to talk to a reverend about this. lebing find the photos you've been gathering in the cloud, the music you've been collecting on your device, and all the places you've been dreaming about from the web.

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welcome back, everybody. it was just a few hours ago that new jersey governor chris christie dropped his appeal to legalize same-sex marriages in the garden state. christie had been asking the supreme court to overturn a ruling to recognize those marriages. couples began exchanging their vows shortly after midnight. >> ladies and gentlemen, it is officially past midnight. marriage is equal in new jersey. >> there you have it. new jersey is the 14th state, including the district of columbia, to recognize marriage equality. >> butterflies. a lot of butterflies. we're just happy to see all our friends and family. >> the reverend russell hicks is the pastor of the united church of christ and he was on the beach last night in asbury park along with the congregation, the different ministers that were there performing services that took place there. reverend, let's talk about those because you got to witness the services that were taking place after 12:00. what was it like to be there?

why did you want to be there for that history-making moment? >> it was a joyful experience. it was like the wedding at canaa which jesus turned water into wine. the water of injustice was turned into the wine of joy. the couples who were married there, their faces were shining. there was just great joy, not only amongst them but among the whole community. one of the most touching moments was when one of the spouses wiped a tear off of the face of her loved one, her spouse, just as they were saying vows and their children hugged them and that kind of joy is just a fabulous experience. >> reverend, it was a nice, beautiful night. weather held out for all of these couples, which is really nice. you always want great weather for your wedding day. but let's talk about who was on site there because they were from different affiliated religious groups. one being a retired catholic priest which was really surprising to me. a catholic priest tom pavinsky was performing these services. >> he did a beautiful service. >> how important is it, though, as we see so many of these pivot

changes in marriage equality becoming legal in 14 states as well as the district of columbia that religion be a fluid part of this? that spirituality be an important part of this, and recognized as such? >> well, love is at the heart of our religion. jesus said love is the fulfillment of the law. love god and love your neighbor as yourself. he didn't just talk about it, he acted on it. he reached out to those who were hurting and brought healing and brought them back into the center of community. one of my favorite stories is when he heals a woman who is bent over for 18 years and raises her up and says you too are a daughter of abraham and he healed her not only physically but spiritually and brought her back into the center of community, and that's what gay marriage is doing, is bringing people back not only into community but so that people can look each other in the eye and stand up straight and be open about who they are. >> the fight for equality still wages on. i just want to highlight some of the states where we could see marriage equality advance.

nevada, illinois, new mexico, hawaii and virginia. what would your advice be to religious leaders in those states who may feel from a civil rights perspective that gay couples should have access to this but might still feel there is a hurdle in their religious upbringing and beliefs? >> i would say to go back to the heart of the scripture. the heart of the scripture is clearly that those who are marginalized or hurting are brought in love back into community. love is at the heart of the tradition. and so to affirm what the scriptures say, and that's found in every tradition really. you know, we hope that religious leaders will affirm that. >> you have presided over same-sex weddings in the past and now you have one coming up on thursday, correct? >> yes. >> this changes the dynamic for you now, especially because it's a big week for marriage equality in new jersey, but how do you think it's going to change the vibe on thursday for the service that you're going to be having. >> it's just going to be joyful.

i'm part of the united church of christ which ordained an openly gay man in 1972, and affirmed marriage equality in 2005. and so our tradition affirms this, and we just find great joy and celebration in this. it's enlivened our congregation and our community. we're just thrilled that this is happening. i'm so pleased for linda and linda, who are going to be married this thursday. >> and i know this was a family affair. you said your wife and your daughter, they were there on the beach watching all of this. >> they were both in tears, just full of joy. my daughter was taking pictures. she said i want to be ordained so i can do marriages. it was just a joyful experience. >> well, it might run in the family, but also there's the universal like ministry so she can get registered online. we continue to follow those developing moments coming to us from the white house. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius arriving at the west wing. you see her there in that purple

violet jacket. president obama is expected to speak from the rose garden any minute now talking about the issues so many americans have had to deal with when trying to enroll in the aca and going online to healthcare.gov. the website has had its glitches and the president is going to talk about what's going to be done to make it better for everybody. a smoother process. we'll have those remarks when they happen. plus the names of nearly 40,000 people kicked off voter rolls in virginia. why isn't there a louder outcry over people being denied the right to vote? asional have constipation,

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that website. since it is mandatory that those needing health insurance get signed up, the president will roll out what is being done to solve the glitches that so many people have been experiencing. we're going to have those remarks for you live when they happen, again just minutes away. democrats in virginia are expected to appeal a judge's decision about a massive voter purge just weeks before a high-stakes election. the board of elections says more than 38,000 voters were purged from the rolls on the board's orders because they had registered in other states. now, state democrats argued the purged list was full of errors, but friday a judge refused to reinstate the voters. the latest polls in the gubernatorial race showed democrat terry mcauliffe leading ken cuccinelli, virginia's attorney general. joining me is kathy culliton-gonzalez. kathy, good to have you here. let's talk about this because the u.s. district judge, claude helton said i just don't find

there's a strong showing of any inequitable treatment or the deprivation of anyone's rights. if these voters that were purged were also registered in another state, is there really a problem? >> that wouldn't be the problem. the problem is that these kind of purges so close to an election cause confusion and can cause intimidation. so if this were a federal election, this type of purge would be clearly illegal because purging is not allowed within 90 days of any federal election. but this case just shows us how important state voting rights law are, so it's not as clear under state law as it is federal law, but doing this type of list maintenance or purging, which does have some errors in it and does cause confusion is not allowed under principle under federal law and should not be allowed under state law either. >> you bring up this margin of error. as you look at how this race is rolling out, it's expected to be very close with low turnout expected for this off, off year election. the latest nbc 4/nbc marist poll

puts mcauliffe at 46% and cuccinelli at 38% so it could only take a few thousand votes to put one candidate ahead of another. >> i guess that's a very good point. we're a nonpartisan group but sometimes these purjz are just politicianing manipulating the voting rules for their own political gain. 38,000 people were on the list. the litigation is ongoing. we would encourage everybody who's an eligible virginia voter to vote. they have a right to vote a provisional ballot if they are on this list. again, it's going to be a close race. this is why these types of purges shouldn't be done so close to an election. we don't know why the purge was done. nobody is pointing to voter fraud. this just seems to be last minute list maintenance that causes confusion. >> you're saying you're nonpartisan and just trying to make sure the voting process is streamlined. as we look at this, the board of elections legal adviser is ken cuccinelli. he's the first attorney general in 30 years in virginia not to

step down from that position because of his run for governor, wouldn't that provide a large conflict of interest over this? >> i would think so. if i was in his position i wouldn't be doing what he's doing. but i'm with advancement project, we're a nonpartisan group. we care very much about the voters. we hope that people still continue to vote and don't let this intimidate you. if you're on this list and you're a virginia voter, please go to the polls and vote. >> would that be a red flag to your organization? >> it could be, it could be. certainly we believe that these things should be nonpartisan, that people in charge of elections should act in a nonpartisan manner. and so we're very concerned when politicians manipulate the voting rolls. we were against this purge. we're waiting to see what the lawsuit brings. but in the meantime certainly hope that voters will come out and vote and not let, you know, yet this other new time of she n -- shenanigan be at all intimidating. >> kathy culliton-gonzalez,

great to have you on, kathy. thanks for your time and your insights. >> thank you. here's a look at some of the other stories topping the news now. a couple in greece accused of abducting a little girl made an appearance in court today. they insist they adopted the child from her biological mom. she was found with them during a drug raid on a gypsy camp. authorities have been flooded with calls from parents looking for missing children. firefighters are trying to get a handle on as many as 60 wildfires raging across australia since last week. there are concerns today that two of the biggest fires will join together to create a massive fire front. the french government wants answers from its u.s. ambassador, this after reports the nsa intercepted more than 70 million phone calls and text messages over a 30-day period. the report was published in the french paper. florida police expect more arrests in the case of two convicted murderers who used forged documents to get out of prison. the pair were taken back into custody this weekend at a motel in panama city. police are now looking for

anyone who helped them get those forged documents out of jail. a frustrating start to the workweek for some commuters in san francisco. they're dealing with a b.a.r.t. strike at the start of their week. union workers have been striking over a variety of issues, including scheduling and overtime pay. and they are supposed to be really rare but now two oarfish have washed ashore in southern california in just one week. the latest a 14-footer found on friday. the first was found off catalina island earlier this month. en mis could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one's around, it does make a sound? ohhh...ohhh...oh boy! i'm falling. everybody look out! ahhhhh...ugh. little help here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you...well, you know.

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all right. so as we've been telling you this hour, we continue to follow the people that are setting up there. there's human -- health and human services secretary, kathleen sebelius, taking her seat in the front row as we are expected to see the president just moments away giving this rose garden address, the subject being obama care and the healthcare.gov website. it is expected that he'll

directly address the issues with that site for the first time and talk about a plan to fix them. what we've been covering is the fact that there have been complaints and glitches in the system for people to get properly enrolled. also not having tangible and hard factual numbers about actual data of who has enrolled successfully. but the president is going to be out just moments, again, secretary sebelius taking her seat there in the front row. i want to bring in our agenda panel today. igor volsky, irin carmon and corey dade. gang, i want to apologize for being rude in advance because if the president comes out, we're just going to jump away and go to his remarks. corey, let me start with you. republicans are ready to pounce on this and keep using words like train wreck. again, this is not about the law, it's about the website. >> yeah, that's right. at this point the president has to come out today and very clearly make a distinction between the administrative problems of the rollout, the technical problems of the

website issues and the quality of the care that the white house says the -- that americans will receive. those are two distinctly different points. really they have about three weeks to get these fixes worked out, get these bugs worked out and then, you know, they should be out of the woods by then. >> you would think. time is of the essence, obviously. we all know october 1st was coming and certainly those in charge of the aca knew that october 1st was coming. so is there a certain irony here with an aspect being to make obama care more palatable for republicans? states needing to set up their own exchanges? there were so many states that did not bother to do this, that the onus was on the federal government. >> right. well, in a lot of ways, this was designed in such a way that states would have the opportunity to do things according to their own specifications, but the moment that that opened up the door for gop governors to block, both creating their own state exchanges or expanding medicaid, that put that much more burden

on the federal government's website. so liberals would have preferred a single payer to begin with. what we had is this sort of like hybrid beast where people are buying on the private market. i think it's interesting just to point out that obviously the white house, hhs are fully responsible for any problems and execution that have come out in the last few weeks, but that, you know, originally this was supposed to be a state-by-state option and the state exchanges have been doing quite a bit better. >> so the president is there, he's being introduced now by janice baker. the president surrounded, as i understand it, by people who have been able to successfully sign up for obama care and get coverage needed. let's go ahead and listen in. >> i'm here today to encourage other people like me, who needs access to quality affordable insurance and to tell them to have patience with such a new system. without this ability to get this insurance, i know that a single hospital stay could have bankrupted me and my business.

thank you all, and i am now honored to introduce the president of the united states. thank you. >> thank you. thank you, everybody. well, thank you, janice, and thanks to everybody here for coming on this beautiful day. welcome to the white house. about three weeks ago as the federal government shut down, the affordable care act's health insurance marketplaces opened for business across the country. well, we've now gotten the government back open for the american people and today i want to talk about how we're going to get the marketplaces running at full steam as well. and i'm joined today by folks who have either benefitted from the affordable care act already or who are helping their fellow citizens learn about what this law means for them and how they can get covered. of course you've probably heard

that healthcare.gov, the new website where people can apply for health insurance and browse and buy affordable plans in most states hasn't worked as smoothly as it was supposed to work. the number of people who visited the site has been overwhelming, which has aggregated some of these underlying problems. despite all that, thousands of people are signing up an saving money as we speak. many americans with a pre-existing condition, like janice, are discovering that they can finally get health insurance like everybody else. so today i want to speak to every american who's looking to get affordable health insurance. i want you to know what's available to you and why it may bow a good deal for you. and for those who have had some problems with the website, i want to tell you what we're doing to make it work better and how you can sign up to get covered in other ways.

but before i do that, let me remind everybody that the affordable care act is not just a website. it's much more. for the vast majority of americans, for 85% of americans who already have health insurance through your employer or medicare or medicaid, you don't need to sign up for coverage through a website at all. you've already got coverage. what the affordable care act does for you is to provide you with new benefits and protections that have been in place for some time. you may not know it, but you're already benefitting from these provisions in the law. for example, because of the affordable care act, young people like jasmine jennings and jessica ugalde and ezra salup, all of whom are here today, they have been able to stay on their parents' plans until they're 26. millions of other young people

are currently benefiting from that part of the law. another part of the affordable care act is providing seniors with deeper discounts on their prescription medicine. billions of dollars have been saved by seniors already. that's part of the law. it's already in place. it's happening right now. already because of the affordable care act, preventive care like mammograms and birth control are free through your employers. that's part of this law. so there are a wide range of consumer protections and benefits that you already have if you've got health insurance. you may not have noticed them, but you've got them, and they're not going anywhere, and they're not dependent on a website. here's another thing that the affordable care act does. in states where governors and legislatures have wisely allowed it, the affordable care act

provides the opportunity for many americans to get covered under medicaid for the first time. so in oregon, for example, that's helped cut the number of uninsured people by 10% just in the last three weeks. think about that. that's 56,000 more americans who now have health care. that doesn't depend on a website. now, if you're one of the 15% of americans who don't have health insurance, either because you can't afford it or because your employer doesn't offer it or because you're a small businessperson and you have to go out on the individual market and buy it on your own and it's just too expensive, october 1st was an important date. that's when we opened the new marketplaces where people

without health insurance or who can't afford health insurance or who aren't part of a group plan can finally start getting affordable coverage. and the idea is simple. by enrolling in what we're calling these marketplaces, you become part of a big group plan. as if you were working for a big employer. a statewide group plan that spreads risk between sick people and healthy people, between young and old, and then bargains on your behalf for the best deal on health care. what we've done is essentially created competition where there wasn't competition before. we've created these big group plans, and now insurers are really interested in getting your business. and so insurers have created new health care plans with more choices to be made available through these marketplaces. and as a result of this choice

and this competition, prices have come down. when you add the new tax credits that many people are eligible for through the law, then the prices come down even further. so one study shows that through new options created by the affordable care act, nearly six in ten uninsured americans will find that they can get covered for less than $100 a month. think about that. through the marketplaces, you can get health insurance for what may be the equivalent of your cell phone bill or your cable bill, and that's a good deal. so the fact is the product of the affordable care act for

people without health insurance is quality health insurance that's affordable. and that product is working, it's really good, and it turns out there's a massive demand for it. so far the national website, healthcare.gov, has been visited nearly 20 million times. 20 million times. and there's great demand at the state level as well, because there are a bunch of states that are running their own marketplaces. we know that nearly one-third of the people applying in connecticut and maryland, for example, are under 35 years old. they understand that they can get a good deal at low cost, have the security of health care and this is not just for old folks like me, that everybody needs good quality health insurance. and all told, more than half a million consumers across the

country have successfully submitted applications through federal and state marketplaces. and many of those applications aren't just for individuals, it's for their entire families. so even more people are already looking to potentially take advantage of the high quality affordable insurance that is provided through the affordable care act. so let me just recap here. the product is good. the health insurance that's being provided is good. it's high quality and it's affordable. people can save money, significant money by getting insurance that's being provided through these marketplaces. and we know that the demand is there. people are rushing to see what's available. and those who have already had a chance to enroll are thrilled with the result. every day people who were stuck

with sky-high premiums because of pre-existing conditions are getting affordable insurance for the first time or finding that they're saving a lot of money. every day women are finally buying coverage that doesn't charge them higher premiums than men for the same care. every day people are discovering that new health insurance plans have to cover maternity care, mental health care, free preventive care. you just heard janice's story. she owns her own small business. she recently became the first woman to enroll in coverage through delaware's exchange. and it's true, it took her a few tries. but it was worth it. after being turned down for insurance three times due to minor pre-existing conditions. so now she'll be covered. she'll save $150 a month and she won't have to worry that one illness or accident will cost her her business that she's

worked so hard to build. and janice is not alone. i recently received a letter from a woman named jessica sanford in washington state. here's what she wrote. i am a single mom. no child support, self-employed, and i haven't had insurance for 15 years because it's too expensive. my son has adhd and requires regular doctor visits and his meds alone cost $250 per month. i have had an ongoing tendinitis problem due to my line of work that i haven't had treated. now finally we get to have coverage because of the aca for $169 per month. i was crying the other day when i signed up, so much stress lifted. now that is not untypical for a lot of folks like jessica who

have been struggling without health insurance. that's what the affordable care act is all about. the point is, the essence of the law, the health insurance that's available to people, is working just fine. in some cases actually it's exceeding expectations. the prices are lower than we expected, the choice is greater than we expected. but, the problem has been that the website that's supposed to make it easy to apply for and purchase the insurance is not working the way it should for everybody. there's no sugar coating it. the website has been too slow, people have been getting stuck during the application process, and i think it's fair to say that nobody is more frustrated by that than i am, precisely because the product is good. i want the cash registers to work. i want the checkout lines to be

smooth. so i want people to be able to get this great product. and there's no excuse for the problems. and it's -- these problems are getting fixed. but while we're working out the kinks in the system, i want everybody to understand the nature of the problem. first of all, even with all the problems at healthcare.gov, the website is still working for a lot of people, just not as quick or efficient or consistent as we want. and although many of these folks have found that they had wait longer than they wanted, once they complete the process, they're very happy with the deal that's available to them. just like janice is. second, i want everybody to remember that we're only three weeks into a six-month open enrollment period when you can buy these new plans. keep in mind the insurance doesn't start until january 1st. that's the earliest that the

insurance can kick in. no one who decides to purchase a plan has to pay their first premium until december 15th. and unlike the day after thanksgiving sales for the latest playstation or flat screen tvs, the insurance plans don't run out. they're not going to sell out. they'll be available through the marketplace throughout the open enrollment period. the prices that insurers have set will not change. so everybody who wants insurance through the marketplace will get insurance, period. everybody who wants insurance through the marketplace will get insurance. third, we are doing everything we can possibly do to get the websites working better, faster, sooner. we've got people working

overtime, 24/7, to boost capacity and address the problems. experts from some of america's top private sector tech companies who, by the way, have seen things like this happen before. they want it to work. they're reaching out, they're offering to send help. we've had some of the best i.t. talent in the entire country join the team and we're well into a tech surge to fix the problem. and we are confident that we will get all of the problems fixed. number four, while the website will ultimately be the easiest way to buy insurance through the marketplace, it isn't the only way. i want to emphasize this. even as we redouble our efforts to get the site working as well as it's supposed to, we're also redoubling our efforts to make sure you can still buy the same quality, affordable insurance plans available on the marketplace the old-fashioned way. offline. either over the phone or in person.

and by the way, there are a lot of people who want to take advantage of this who are more comfortable working on the phone anyway, or in person. so let me go through the specifics as to how you can do that if you're having problems with the website or you just prefer dealing with a person. yesterday we updated the website's home page to offer more information about the other avenues to enroll in affordable health care until the online option works for everybody. so you'll find information about how to talk to a specialist who can help you apply over the phone, or to receive a downloadable application you can fill out yourself an mail in. we've also added more staff to the call centers where you can apply for insurance over the phone. those are already -- they have been working. but a lot of people have decided first to go to the website, but keep in mind these call centers are already up and running. and you can get your questions

answered by real people 24 hours a day in 150 different languages. the phone number for these call centers is 1-800-318-2596. 1-800-318-2596. wait times have averaged less than one minute so far on the call centers. although i admit the wait times probably might go up a little bit now that i've read the number out loud on national television. but the point is the call centers are available. you can talk to somebody directly, and they can walk you through the application process. and i guarantee you if one thing is worth the wait, it's the safety and security of health care that you can afford. or the amount of money that you can save by buying health insurance through the marketplaces. once you get on the phone with a trained representative it

usually takes about 25 minutes for an individual to apply for coverage. about 45 minutes for a family. once you apply for coverage, you'll be contacted by mail, by e-mail or postal mail about your coverage status. but you don't have to just go through the phone. you can also apply in person with the help of local navigators. these are people specially trained to help you sign up for health care. and they exist all across the country. or you can go to community health centers and hospitals. just visit localhelp.healthcare.gov to find out where in your area you can get help and apply for insurance in person. and finally, if you have already tried to apply through the website and you've been stuck somewhere along the way, do not worry. in the coming weeks, we will contact you directly, personally, with a concrete

recommendation for how you can complete your application, shop for coverage, pick a plan that meets your needs and get covered once and for all. so here's the bottom line. the product, the health insurance is good. the prices are good. it is a good deal. people don't just want it, they are showing up to buy it. nobody is madder than me about the fact the website isn't working as well as it should, which means it's going to get fixed. and in the meantime, you can bypass the website and apply by phone or in person. so don't let problems with the website deter you from signing up or signing your family up or showing your friends how to sign up because it is worth it.

it will save you money. if you don't have health insurance if you have a pre-existing condition it will save you money and it will give you the security that your family needs. in fact, even with the website issues, we've actually made the overall process of buying insurance through the marketplace a lot smoother and easier than the old way of buying insurance on your own. part of the challenge here is that a lot of people may not remember what it's like to buy insurance. the traditional way. the way we've set it up, there are no more absurdly long application forms. there's no medical history questionnaire that goes on for pages and pages. there's no more getting denied because you've had a pre-existing condition. instead of contacting a bunch of different insurers, one at a time, which is what janice and a

lot of people who were shopping on the individual market for health insurance had to do, there's one single place you can go shop and compare plans that have to compete for your business. there's one single phone number you can call for help. and once the kinks in the website have been ironed out it will be even smoother and even easier. but in the meantime, we will help you sign up because consumers want to buy this product and insurance companies want to sell it to you. let me close by addressing some of the politics that have swirled around the affordable care act. i recognize that the republican party is made blocking the affordable care act its signature policy idea. sometimes it seems to be the one thing that unifies the party these days. in fact, they were willing to shut down the government and potentially harm the global

economy to try to get it repealed. and i'm sure that given the problems with the website so far, they are going to be looking to go after it even harder. and let's admit it, with the website not working as well as it needs to work, that makes a lot of supporters nervous because they know how it's been subject to so much attack. the affordable care act generally. but i just want to remind everybody, we did not wage this long and contentious battle just around a website. that's not what this was about. we waged this battle to make sure that millions of americans in the wealthiest nation on earth finally have the chance to get the same security.

and the affordable care act has done that. people can now get good insurance. people with pre-exist iing conditions can now afford coverage. the launch of this website proves anything it's that people across the country just don't want that security. they need that security. they want it. in the meantime, i've said many times i'm willing to work with anyone on any idea to make this law perform even better. but it's time for folks to stop rooting for its failure because hard working middle class families are rooting for its success. and if the product is good, they are willing to be patient.

i got a letter last week from a self-employed man named john meyer in leedsdale, pennsylvania. he used the new health insurance market to get insurance for himself and his wife. and here's what he said because it pretty much sums up my message today. yes, the website really stank for the first week. but instead of paying $1600 per month for a group insurance plan, we have a plan that will only cost us $692 a month. a savings of $900 per month. john said that while he saw -- when he saw what they'd be paying, he turned to his wife and told her, we might just pull through.

we can afford this. and john eventually predicted that the website will work like a champ. so john's -- he was frustrated by the website. but he's feeling a little less frustrated when he found out he was saving 900 bucks a month on his health insurance. and john's right. the website is going to get fixed. and the law works. that's why we fought so hard to pass this law to save folks like john money. to give people who don't have health insurance the chance to get it for the first time, to lift from the american people the crushing burden of unaffordable health care. to free families from the pervasive fear that one illne

illness -- there you go. i'm right here. i got you. no, you're okay. this happens when i talk too long. you'll be okay. why don't you go sit down. come on. good catch by the way, whoever was here. but that's always our goal to free families from the pervasive fear that one illness or one injury might cost you everything that you dedicated a lifetime to build. our goal has always been to declare that in this country the security of health care is not a privilege for a fortunate few. it's a right for all to enjoy.