Arizona representatives Ron Barber and Krysten Sinema were joined by two other House Democrats in asking Attorney General Eric Holder, on Friday, to launch an immediate in-depth review of the companies responsible for the healthcare.gov website to address the website’s numerous problems.
In a letter sent Friday, Barber and four of his colleagues in the House, asked Holder to “pursue any and all remedies up to and including a refund of any and all monies paid to the contractors for a website that doesn’t work. If the government has purchased faulty or defective services, the taxpayers deserve and should demand their money back.”
In their letter, the members of Congress noted that “clearly, the website was not ready for the traffic it received.” There have been numerous instances of people attempting to register for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act – but being unable to complete the process because of website problems.
Barber and his colleagues asked Holder to “review the contracts and determine whether CGI Federal, QSSI and/or any other company involved in the construction of the website has violated the terms of its agreement or is in constructive breach of the contract.”
Americans, who do not currently have health insurance through their jobs or through Medicare, have until Dec. 15 to register for insurance that will go into effect Jan. 1.
Barber was not in Congress in March 2010 and did not vote for the act. Since he took office in June 2012, he has remained opposed to full repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
A majority of Americans, including both republicans and democrats, do not support the Affordable Care Act.
Even before the website problems, Barber supported a one-year delay to the employer and individual penalties in the Affordable Care Act. The delay in the imposition of penalties and fines would give employers with more than 50 employees and individuals who do not have insurance an additional year to meet the requirements of the law.
The complete text of the letter that Barber and his colleagues sent to Holder today is below.
Oct. 25, 2013
The Honorable Eric Holder
Attorney General of the United States
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001Dear Attorney General Holder:
We write today to express our deep concerns over contracts our government engaged in to create the website known as HealthCare.gov. It is no secret that the website has not performed in a satisfactory manner. There are countless reports of people waiting hours to get through the site only to have the system crash once they have successfully logged in.
Clearly, the website was not ready for the traffic it received. In the weeks since its opening, the website has never performed as expected or promised. As a result, we ask that you review the contracts and determine whether CGI Federal, QSSI and/or any other company involved in the construction of the website has violated the terms of its agreement or is in constructive breach of the contract.
Specifically, we ask that you pursue any and all remedies up to and including a refund of any and all monies paid to the contractors for a website that doesn’t work. If the government has purchased faulty or defective services, the taxpayers deserve and should demand their money back.
We respectfully urge a full and thorough review of all the contracts the government engaged in to create HealthCare.gov and seek to hold contractors accountable for their unsatisfactory work. We look forward to a timely response.
Sincerely,
Ron Barber
Member of CongressWilliam L. Enyart
Member of CongressPete P. Gallego
Member of CongressKyrsten Sinema
Member of CongressFilemon Vela
Member of Congress