Oversight Leaders Question ObamaCare Contractors - United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability

WASHINGTON – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee leaders today announced letters sent to 11 of the largest recipients of contracts for the design and implementation of HealthCare.gov, the troubled website through which millions of Americans will be compelled to buy health insurance under ObamaCare.

“Based on the Committee’s initial briefings from key contractors, we know that the Administration refused to heed warnings that extra time for testing was needed. Additionally, we know that CMS employees and officials repeatedly used the phrase ‘the White House wants’ when communicating to contractors, and we know that the Administration made a decision to abandon the anonymous shopper feature close to launch,” the letter states. “Many IT experts have suggested that the decision to disable the so-called ‘anonymous shopping’ feature contributed to the failure of HealthCare.gov on October 1, 2013, and in the weeks that have followed.”

Noting that HealthCare.gov went through little, if any, testing, the letter continues: “[t]his lack of testing is concerning due to the amount of sensitive consumer information flowing through the data hub and exchanges.”

The letter signed by Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., along with Subcommittee Chairmen John Mica, R-Fla., Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, James Lankford, R-Okla., Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, seeks a detailed explanation of the number, types and amounts of contracts awarded to each company, all communications between the companies and the White House or HHS, and a detailed list of all meetings related to ObamaCare implementation.

Ten of the companies were the largest recipients of funds related to the design and implementation of HealthCare.gov. The eleventh company, Serco, Inc., is a British firm awarded a contract for processing paper applications.

Letters to each of the companies can be found at the respective link: