Gary Cohen, deputy administrator and director of CMS’ Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, testified at a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing that the federal exchange site’s automated process for payments is still being built. Mr. Cohen was not able to say when the payment process construction would be completed.
Mr. Cohen made his revelation on the same day that the House passed the Health Exchange Information Disclosure Act, which requires the Obama administration to provide weekly updates on the functionality and enrollment details of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act health insurance exchanges.
Since its launch last October, HealthCare.gov has experienced numerous technical problems and has become the target of harsh criticism from Republic lawmakers. Enrollment in the exchanges has been lower than expected, partly due to the federal exchange site’s various glitches. However, following repair efforts, the site could support 83,000 concurrent users as of Dec. 23, and nearly 2.2 million people had selected health plans through the state-based and federal exchanges by Dec. 28, according to HHS.
Additionally, CMS also recently selected a new contractor, consulting firm Accenture, to oversee maintenance of HealthCare.gov. Federal officials decided to replace the original head contractor, IT company CGI Federal, following the federal exchange site’s glitch-ridden rollout.
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