Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) asked Henry Chao, Deputy Chief Information Officer and Deputy Director of the Office of Information Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, about the status of the Healthcare.gov website. Chao revealed that 60 to 70 percent of the Obamacare exchanges website still had to be built. “We’re sitting somewhere between 60 and 70 percent,” Chao said.
“Let me get this correct,” Gardner asked incredulously, “60 to 70 percent of healthcare.gov still needs to be built?” Chao answered, “Healthcare.gov, the online application, verification, determination, plan compare, getting enrolled…that’s 100 percent there.” But he admitted, “There is the back office systems, the accounting systems, the payment systems, they still need to be built.”
Later, Chao claimed that there was 30 to 40 percent remaining to be tested.
Gardner asked how those systems would be tested. “In the same exact manner we tested everything else,” Chao answered. He stated that testing would be “ongoing” based on bill schedule.