ADVERTISEMENT

Carney: Purpose of Healthcare.gov Was Not to Build 'The Best Possible Website'

October 28, 2013

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the purpose of the Affordable Care Act was not to "build the best possible website" Monday in the White House press conference.

Carney tried to redirect attention from the technical glitches on healthcare.gov to the supposed new benefits of insurance policies now available to consumers:

JAY CARNEY: […] I think more broadly, we have acknowledged that healthcare.gov has not performed adequately. The president is not happy about that. Secretary Sebelius is not happy about that. That is why we have dedicated these focused resources to fixing the existing problems and getting that site operating at a level that will allow millions of Americans to have the kind of user experience they deserve and need to have online when they are shopping for affordable health insurance and enrolling in affordable health insurance plans, because that is the purpose here. The purpose here is not to build the best possible website. The purpose of the website and the call-in centers and the in-person centers is to provide information to Americans about the health care choices available to them, health care choices that were not available prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

The White House press secretary did not directly address concerns that the website's technical glitches may ultimately compromise insurance policies through the transmission of faulty data.

Moreover, House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R., Mich.) on Sunday cautioned there are numerous security flaws in the structure of the Obamacare website, potentially putting consumers' personal data at risk: