The testing phase of the Obamacare website failed with a test pool of 200-300 employees from insurance companies and the government Sheryl Attkison reported Wednesday on CBS Evening News.
Attkison cited sources who claimed that the testing encountered extensive problems even late into September, offering ample evidence that the Obamacare website was not ready to launch.
The report contradicts testimony from CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner who testified the technical glitches did not show up in testing and her agency was unaware of the issues until after October 1:
SHARYL ATTKISSON: We've learned the website failed with a small test pool of two to three hundred people in that included 200-300 employees from the government and insurance companies. The government employees worked at their own computers and desks within the centers from medicare and medicaid services which oversaw the healthcare implementation. According to the sources familiar with the process, CMS employees were provided fake personal information to enter in to healthcare.gov rather than their own data, and were given date that testing would begin. However, on that date the employees were told it was being postponed. When the testing finally took place in late September, the testers started trying to create an application, just a couple of pages into the process everything ground to a stop, says one source. It froze, it couldn't go forward. It crashed. A couple of days later testers tried again and had a similar outcome, they were never able to successfully browse plans for cost estimates. It was unequivocally clear from testing this wasn't ready says a source close to the testing. The account is in stark contrast to the testimony yesterday from Marilynn Tavenner the head of CMS. She testified under oath she had no idea prior to October 1st that the problems were so bad.
MARILYN TAVENNER: We had tested the website and we were comfortable with its performance. The volume issue and creation of account issues was not anticipated and obviously took us by surprise and did not show up in testing.
ATTKISSON: One question this raises, Scott, was the head of CMS unaware of results of testing that took place inside her own agency just days before the launch.