New Emails Show White House Knew #ObamaCare Could Crash on Launch

At Politico, "White House email chain shows launch fears":

Top White House and health officials feared that HealthCare.gov wouldn’t work correctly and would set off a wave of bad publicity, according to emails shortly before the disastrous rollout of the Obamacare enrollment website.

The emails, released Wednesday evening by House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, included a picture of an error message that has become emblematic of the launch debacle. They were dated Sept. 25 — less than a week before the enrollment portal opened and immediately created a crisis for the White House.

“When Todd Park and Marilyn [Tavenner] was here yesterday one of the things Todd conveyed was this fear the WH has about hc.gov being unavailable,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Deputy Chief Information Officer Henry Chao wrote to a few dozen staff and contractors. He was referring to White House Chief Technology Officer Todd Park and CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.

“Todd does have a good point and I think we should have a more comprehensive answer as to how we will ensure high availability,” Chao continued.

Later on in the email chain, Chae wrote to two colleagues: “… can you think about a better way to convey to the public when the site is not available? I am picturing in my mind all the major print and online publications taking screenshots of what is below and just ramping up the hyperbole about hc.gov not functional.” Attached is picture of an error message which says, “The System is down at the moment.”

Also at Fox News, "Email shows White House had 'fear' ObamaCare site wouldn't work before launch."