U.S. President Barack Obama says the glitches of the Healthcare.gov website are "frustrating," but people are working around the clock to to fix the problems.
The president said in his weekly address Saturday the fight for health care reform is not about a website, but was instead about establishing the "principle that in this country, the security of health care is not a privilege for a fortunate few, but a right for everyone."
Obama said the site has been visited more than 20 million times and nearly 700,000 people have applied for coverage.
The president accused Republicans in Congress of spending the last few years obsessed with denying people access to health insurance.
Watch President Obama's weekly address:
In the Republican address, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Fred Upton said his committee will hear directly from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to find out why the so-called Obamacare website does not work, despite the investment of hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars.
The expert the White House has hired to fix the massive problems with the website says he expects it to be running smoothly by the end of November.
Thousands of people trying to buy government mandated health insurance using the website have run into numerous problems. Some users complain of extremely long wait times while others have had their passwords rejected. Other users said they were given conflicting prices for the same health plan.
Executives of the companies who built the website told Congress Wednesday the system was not fully tested and that last-minute changes to the website contributed to the problems.
Republicans opposed to the Afrodable Care Act - commonly known as Obamacare - said the computer problems illustrated their argument the health care law is not ready.
Under the Affordable Care Act, people without private health insurance can sign up for government subsidized plans through the website. Those who fail to carry any health insurance would pay a penalty.
The president said in his weekly address Saturday the fight for health care reform is not about a website, but was instead about establishing the "principle that in this country, the security of health care is not a privilege for a fortunate few, but a right for everyone."
Obama said the site has been visited more than 20 million times and nearly 700,000 people have applied for coverage.
The president accused Republicans in Congress of spending the last few years obsessed with denying people access to health insurance.
Watch President Obama's weekly address:
In the Republican address, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Fred Upton said his committee will hear directly from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to find out why the so-called Obamacare website does not work, despite the investment of hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars.
The expert the White House has hired to fix the massive problems with the website says he expects it to be running smoothly by the end of November.
Thousands of people trying to buy government mandated health insurance using the website have run into numerous problems. Some users complain of extremely long wait times while others have had their passwords rejected. Other users said they were given conflicting prices for the same health plan.
Executives of the companies who built the website told Congress Wednesday the system was not fully tested and that last-minute changes to the website contributed to the problems.
Republicans opposed to the Afrodable Care Act - commonly known as Obamacare - said the computer problems illustrated their argument the health care law is not ready.
Under the Affordable Care Act, people without private health insurance can sign up for government subsidized plans through the website. Those who fail to carry any health insurance would pay a penalty.
