On Cyber Monday, millions of Americans flock to popular websites such as Amazon.com to begin holiday shopping — and most do so without encountering any technical problems or glitches.
Those visiting HealthCare.Gov, however, still are experiencing delays, a fact that demonstrates how the private sector simply is better than the government when it comes to building a functional website, according to the White House.
“What is absolutely the case is the private sector does some things very well and better than the government can, and running effective websites may be one of them, is one of them,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday, after explaining why many Americans seeking health insurance through Obamacare’s flawed website continue to run into trouble.
From midnight to noon Monday, about 375,000 people visited HealthCare.Gov, the White House said. The administration expected such high volume following an extended holiday weekend, Mr. Carney said, and revamped its “queue” system that asks users to enter email addresses and other information and return to the site later during off-peak hours.
But the White House still insists its website has improved dramatically since its failed rollout on Oct. 1, and Mr. Carney contended that Monday’s influx of traffic proves that Americans are interested in getting affordable health insurance.
While private businesses may build better websites, he added, there are other tasks better suited to the government.
“What the Affordable Care Act demonstrates is that it is important for government to take action in order to, for example, do something the private sector has failed to do, which is reduce the inflation rate in health care costs,” Mr. Carney said.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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