WASHINGTON (AP) – Management failures by the Obama administration set the stage for the computer woes that paralyzed the president’s new health care program last fall, nonpartisan investigators said in testimony released Wednesday.
After a months-long investigation, the Government Accountability Office found that the administration lacked “effective planning or oversight practices” for the development of HealthCare.gov, the online portal to coverage for millions of uninsured Americans.
As a result the government incurred “significant cost increases, schedule slips, and delayed functionality,” William Woods, a GAO contracting expert said in testimony prepared for a hearing Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
GAO is the nonpartisan investigative agency of Congress. Its full report is also expected Thursday.
The administration concurs with most of the findings, agreeing that the initial performance of HealthCare.gov was unacceptable. But officials say that things have come a long way since then.