White House expresses total confidence in #Obamacare web site
**Posted by Phineas
Remember that December 1st deadline to have healthcare.gov actually working? Hey, they even had a tech surge and everything! So, they’re going to be ready and millions will flock to the site, right? Right??
White House officials, fearful that the federal health care website may again be overwhelmed this weekend, have urged their allies to hold back enrollment efforts so the insurance marketplace does not collapse under a crush of new users.
At the same time, administration officials said Tuesday that they had decided not to inaugurate a big health care marketing campaign planned for December out of concern that it might drive too many people to the still-fragile HealthCare.gov.
With a self-imposed deadline for repairs to the website approaching on Saturday, the administration is trying to strike a delicate balance. It is encouraging people to go or return to the website but does not want to create too much demand. It boasts that the website is vastly improved, but does not want to raise expectations that it will work for everyone.
In other words, it’s nowhere near ready and, let’s face it, they’re going to find even more bugs as they dig deeper into the system, while some of the fixes are sure to create problems of their own. As of a week ago, the payment system was nonexistent (You don’t get covered until you pay), while the system to pay insurers the subsidy money is months away from being ready.
But, yeah, everything will be copacetic tomorrow.
Via Walter Russell Mead, who has this to say on the potential political consequences:
Remember that many Democrats have cited December 1st (tomorrow!) as the deadline for the website. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but if healthcare.gov isn’t working reasonably well by then, many are contemplating distancing themselves publicly from the law. The White House’s attempts to direct people away from the site on and even after that date can’t be doing much to convince Democrats that the site will be ready. The website may be, as the administration claims, getting better all the time. But if Democrats frustrated with a missed December deadline defect from the administration in the coming weeks, continued, gradual improvement might be too little, too late.
I’m beginning to think Charles Krauthammer may be right: Democrats will be the ones who will put an end to Obamacare, just to try to save themselves.
PS: Back from Thanksgiving with the family. I hope you all had a great day. 
(Crossposted at Public Secrets)