WASHINGTON (AP) Republicans who failed to defund President Barack Obama's signature health care overhaul by shutting down the government had their first chance Thursday in Congress to question widespread problems with the website where Americans are meant to sign up for health insurance. Contractors said the crippled site wasn't fully tested until the last couple of weeks before the system's Oct. 1 launch.
The U.S. has been the only major developed country without a national health care system, and the overhaul was supposed to change that. The system is not the centralized, government-run setup seen in places like Britain and instead uses various ways to require or encourage Americans to get private or, for the poor or elderly, government-provided insurance.
What's known as Obamacare is the closest the U.S. has ever come to universal health care after a century of efforts, and it has been under heavy attack by Republicans from the start. Now, with congressional elections coming next year, the opposition is using the Obama administration's handling of the troubled launch to regain momentum after the government shutdown fight.
Obama says he's as frustrated as anyone and has promised a "tech surge" to fix the health website.
People have until March 31 to sign up for coverage. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office had projected that about 7 million people would gain coverage during the first year. Enrollment figures are being closely guarded by the administration, which plans to release the first data in mid-November.
