Best Feature Of ObamaCare Website Removed Just Before Launch

by JASmius

"Best feature" in no small part because, reportedly, it actually worked - except, naturally, that's not what the Regime told Congress:

A key feature of the ObamaCare website that would let people window-shop for plans and pricing data was one of the few functions that actually worked — yet administration officials told Congress it "failed miserably" before the October 1st launch, CNN reported Friday.

CNN reported that documents show the "Anonymous Shopper" function passed a key test almost two weeks before the healthcare.gov launch, yet was turned off and is still unavailable to users.

Its absence, one expert told CNN, is "a major design failure."

Well, now, what possible reason could the Regime have for turning off that little feature - again, one that actually worked - and then lying to Congress about it?

Oh, that's right....:

House Republicans suspect the function was turned off to hide the sticker shock of insurance plans' costs and force Americans to jump through hoops before they could shop, CNN reported.

"Anonymous Shopper" was supposed to let people compare health insurance plans without opening an account, verifying their identity, or determining whether they qualified for a federal subsidy, CNN noted.

And who waxed lyrically about that very "guaranteed" feature in his sales pitch?

Uh-huh:

Ironically, that's exactly the feature matching President Barack Obama's stated vision for the federal website: to operate just like retail sites that Americans browse and buy from every day, CNN reported.

Republicans are, reportedly, furious.  And I would say it's about fracking time:

"Although CGI officials were not able to identify who within the administration made the decision to disable the anonymous-shopping feature, evidence is mounting that political considerations motivated the decision," Representative Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wrote in a letter to federal technology executives in October.

"So far," Newsmax hedges, "no document or testimony has revealed White House involvement in the anonymous-shopper decision."  But it seems it's only a matter of time.

Perhaps this is why Red Barry's approval numbers are lower than those of the crack-smoking mayor of Toronto.