A web design expert told CNN Thursday that the Obamacare website was inefficient and, according to correspondent Brian Todd, "doesn't work at the most basic levels."
Todd interviewed Russ Reeder, who designs websites for major corporations, for The Situation Room.
"Was there a design flaw?" Todd asked. "One independent expert, Russ Reeder, who designs websites for major corporations, had his engineers analyze healthcare.gov, and he said it doesn't work at the most basic levels."
"Just from the highest level, looking at the code on the website, to be honest with you, it was pretty sloppy," Reeder said. "There were still test code in there. There was a number of times that the website would have to go back and hit the server and then come back with too much information. It was just inefficient."
Todd said CNN had been unable to get hard numbers on how much the administration paid a contractor to set up the website, but according to a government accountability report, $90 million had been paid just through March of 2013.
White House communications advisor David Simas defended the site and returned to the talking point that President Obama had promised there would be glitches with the site and asked Americans to be patient. He would not tell Todd how much the administration paid for the site, referring him to other agencies.