Barack Obama, who forged his political career by harnessing the power of the internet, was forced to admit that the launch of the online exchanges at the heart of his signature healthcare reforms had been botched.
Long wait times, error messages and other problems have prevented millions of uninsured Americans from signing up for insurance on the new portals, which were supposed to offer a simple way to buy “Obamacare” health plans.
“Nobody’s madder than me about the fact that the website isn’t working as well as it should, which means it’s going to get fixed,” the US president said. “There’s no sugar-coating it. The website has been too slow . . . nobody’s more frustrated by that than I am.”