Politics

Sebelius makes shocking claim on HealthCare.gov: ‘The website has never crashed’

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made a shocking claim about the rocky roll-out of the Obamacare website while testifying on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

Despite the reported technical difficulties preventing Americans from enrolling in the new Obamacare exchanges on HealthCare.Gov, Sebelius said: “The website has never crashed. It is functional, but at a very slow speed and very low reliability and has continued to function.”

As Sebelius testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday, some users reported getting this message on that website: “The system is down at the moment. We are experiencing technical difficulties and hope to have them resolved soon. Please try again later.”

She took responsibility for the problems with implementation of President Obama’s health-care law, but explained that “millions” have visited the site.

“It’s why I’m so frustrated and disappointed that the site is not fully functional and why I’m so committed to getting it functional,” she said. “Because clearly there is a demand.”

Sebelius was also asked Wednesday if she personally tried to enroll on the website.

“I created an early light account, so I would see the prompts that were coming to people who were interested,” she said. “I did work my way to the application feature early on, but frankly, I have affordable health-care.”

Her testimony comes as some Republicans — including Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander — have called for her ouster because of the troublesome implementation of the law and the failure of the HealthCare.gov website.

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