Obamacare Implementation: the Rollout of Healthcare.Gov Hearing
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OBAMACARE IMPLEMENTATION: THE ROLLOUT OF HEALTHCARE.GOV HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NOVEMBER 13, 2013 Serial No. 113–91 Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov http://www.house.gov/reform U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 87–316 PDF WASHINGTON : 2014 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:10 Apr 25, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\DOCS\87316.TXT APRIL COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM DARRELL E. ISSA, California, Chairman JOHN L. MICA, Florida ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland, Ranking MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio Minority Member JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of JIM JORDAN, Ohio Columbia JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts TIM WALBERG, Michigan WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts JUSTIN AMASH, Michigan JIM COOPER, Tennessee PAUL A. GOSAR, Arizona GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania JACKIE SPEIER, California SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee MATTHEW A. CARTWRIGHT, Pennsylvania TREY GOWDY, South Carolina TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois DOC HASTINGS, Washington DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming PETER WELCH, Vermont ROB WOODALL, Georgia TONY CARDENAS, California THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky STEVEN A. HORSFORD, Nevada DOUG COLLINS, Georgia MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM, New Mexico MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina Vacancy KERRY L. BENTIVOLIO, Michigan RON DESANTIS, Florida LAWRENCE J. BRADY, Staff Director JOHN D. CUADERES, Deputy Staff Director STEPHEN CASTOR, General Counsel LINDA A. GOOD, Chief Clerk DAVID RAPALLO, Minority Staff Director (II) VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:10 Apr 25, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\87316.TXT APRIL C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on November 13, 2013 ...................................................................... 1 WITNESSES Mr. David A. Powner, Director of IT Management Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 9 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 11 Mr. Henry Chao, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Deputy Director of the Office of Information Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 28 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 30 Mr. Frank Baitman, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 38 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 40 Mr. Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer of the United States, Office of Science and Technology Policy Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 44 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 45 Mr. Steven VanRoekel, Chief Information Officer of the United States, and Administrator, Office of Electronic Government, Office of Management and Budget Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 46 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 48 APPENDIX A letter to Chairman Issa from Ranking Member Cummings submitted for the record by Chairman Issa ............................................................................... 148 Pages 151-152 of Henry Chao’s transcribed interview submitted for the record by Chairman Issa ................................................................................................. 150 USA Today article submitted for the record by Chairman Issa .......................... 152 CMS memo dated Sept 3, 2013 submitted for the record by Chairman Issa ..... 155 House Republican Playbook submitted for the record by Rep. Cartwright ........ 162 IT Critical Factors Underlying Successful Major Acquisitions Link ................... 179 (III) VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:10 Apr 25, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\87316.TXT APRIL VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:10 Apr 25, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\87316.TXT APRIL OBAMACARE IMPLEMENTATION: THE ROLLOUT OF HEALTHCARE.GOV Wednesday, November 13, 2013 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM, WASHINGTON, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 9:35 a.m., in Room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Darrell E. Issa [chairman of the committee] presiding. Present: Representatives Issa, Mica, Turner, Duncan, McHenry, Jordan, Chaffetz, Walberg, Lankford, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais, Gowdy, Farenthold, Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Collins, Meadows, Bentivolio, DeSantis, Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay, Lynch, Cooper, Connolly, Cartwright, Duckworth, Kelly, Davis, Welch, Cardenas, Horsford, and Lujan Grisham. Also Present: Representative Kelly. Staff Present: Richard A. Beutel, Majority Senior Counsel; Brian Blase, Majority Professional Staff Member; Molly Boyl, Majority Deputy General Counsel and Parliamentarian; Lawrence J. Brady, Majority Staff Director; Joseph A. Brazauskas, Majority Counsel; Caitlin Carroll, Majority Deputy Press Secretary; Sharon Casey, Majority Senior Assistant Clerk; Steve Castor, Majority General Counsel; John Cuaderes, Majority Deputy Staff Director; Adam P. Fromm, Majority Director of Member Services and Committee Op- erations; Linda Good, Majority Chief Clerk; Meinan Goto, Majority Professional Staff Member; Tyler Grimm, Majority Professional Staff Member; Frederick Hill, Majority Staff Director of Commu- nications and Strategy; Christopher Hixon, Majority Chief Counsel for Oversight; Michael R. Kiko, Majority Legislative Assistant; Mark D. Marin, Majority Deputy Staff Director of Oversight; Laura L. Rush, Majority Deputy Chief Clerk; Peter Warren, Majority Leg- islative Policy Director; Rebecca Watkins, Majority Communica- tions Director; Krista Boyd, Minority Deputy Director of Legisla- tion/Counsel; Aryele Bradford, Minority Press Secretary; Yvette Cravins, Minority Counsel; Susanne Sachsman Grooms, Minority Deputy Staff Director/Chief Counsel; Jennifer Hoffman, Minority Communications Director; Chris Knauer, Minority Senior Investi- gator; Elisa LaNier, Minority Director of Operations; Una Lee, Mi- nority Counsel; Juan McCullum, Minority Clerk; Leah Perry, Mi- nority Chief Oversight Counsel; Dave Rapallo, Minority Staff Direc- tor; Daniel Roberts, Minority Staff Assistant/Legislative Cor- respondent; Valerie Shen, Minority Counsel; Mark Stephenson, Mi- nority Director of Legislation; and Cecelia Thomas, Minority Coun- sel. (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:10 Apr 25, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\87316.TXT APRIL 2 Chairman ISSA. The committee will come to order. The Oversight and Government Reform Committee exists to se- cure two fundamental principles: first, Americans have a right to know that the money Government takes involuntarily from them is well spent and, second, Americans deserve an efficient, effective Government that works for them. Our duty on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee is to, in fact, protect these rights. Our solemn responsibility is to hold Government accountable to taxpayers, because taxpayers have a right to know that the money Government takes from them is well spent. It is our job to work tirelessly in partnership with citizen watchdogs to deliver the facts to the American people and bring genuine reform to the Federal bureaucracy. Three and a half years ago, closer to four, in a partisan vote, the House of Representatives passed the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as ObamaCare. The Act gave this Administration more than three years to implement; it gave them virtually unlimited money; it ensured them that, for all practical purposes, they need not come back to Congress ever again because they created an entitlement, one that raised its own money, spent its own money, created its own rules. The 2400 pages that were passed into law, and then read after- wards, now represent tens of thousands of pages of regulations that were created by this Administration based on how this Administra- tion wanted a law interpreted, meaning that legislation created three and a half years ago was still being written in late Sep- tember. The cornerstone of the President’s signature achievement in- cluded a website, Healthcare.gov. This site, and parallel sites cre- ated by some States, were supposed to make it easy to have an on- line marketplace. It was, in fact, an attempt to duplicate what hun- dreds, perhaps thousands,