(Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama said neither he nor members of his administration anticipated the magnitude of the flaws that hobbled the startup of the federal website for people to choose health care plans under his new law.
“I don’t think anybody anticipated the degree of problems that you had on healthcare.gov,” Obama said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday. Now, “it’s working the way it’s supposed to.”
Obama didn’t answer a question about whether he should fire Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius because of the mishandled start.
“I promise you that we hold everybody up and down the line accountable,” he said. “My main priority right now is making sure it delivers for the American people.”
The Affordable Care Act, which mainly took full effect Jan. 1, marks the largest U.S. expansion of health insurance in more than 40 years. About 3 million have signed up for coverage through government-run insurance exchanges. The law also expanded eligibility in some state-run Medicaid programs for the poor.
