Official Admits Much of Obamacare Website Still Needs to be Built

Today, Henry Chao, the chief technologist overseeing the disastrous rollout of the Obamacare website, became the Rob Ford of Congressional testimony: every time he opened his mouth, things only got worse for him.

Chao was summoned by the House Energy and Commerce Committee to testify regarding the state of Healthcare.gov and its ongoing security concerns.

During one key exchange with Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO), Chao was questioned as to whether the health care enrollment website was fully operational prior to its October 1st launch. Chao’s answer was wishy-washy at best, seeming to indicate that Healthcare.gov was not 100% complete before it went live. Gardner pressed Chao on how much more of the site still needs to be rolled out.

Chao responded as follows:

I think it’s just an approximation: we’re probably sitting somewhere between 60 and 70 percent because we still have to build the systems—”

“What? 60 to 70 percent? Are you f***ing kidding me?” should have been Gardner’s response. Instead, he chose to remain more composed and asked, “60 to 70 percent that needs to be built still?”

To which Chao replied:

Because we still have to build the payment systems to make payments to issuers in January.

“So, no one can get paid right now? Well, that shouldn’t matter. January is a long way off,” is the response that Chao was hoping to hear. Instead, Rep. Gardner further questioned the technologist on what systems still remain to be built.

Chao enlightened him with:

There’s the back office systems, the accounting systems, the payment systems. They still need to be done.

“What would you say you do here?” would have been a completely logical follow-up question at this point by Gardner. Yet, the Colorado Congressman calmly continued his line of questioning, drilling into the methods that would be used to test these soon-to-be-launched areas of the website.

At this moment, Chao chose to clarify that only 30 to 40 percent of the Obamacare website still needs to be built, not 60 to 70 percent. “Well, let’s call it a day and hit the bar early. Starf***ers are on me,” is the response that Chao would have loved to have heard from Gardner. Sadly for the Obamacare official, the hearing continued.

Chao answered Gardner’s inquiry with:

How are they going to be tested? In the same exact manner we tested everything else.

“Is your physical body currently possessed by a demon who speaks only in nightmares, or is all of this actually true,” would have been a perfectly reasonable query from Rep. Gardner.

Unfortunately for all of us, everything that Henry Chao testified to today is true. And you paid for it.

Here is video of the exchange: