Jay Carney dodged a question about whether HealthCare.gov will be able to process subsidy payments to insurance companies by the self-imposed deadline at the end of the month. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services official Henry Chao remarked at a House hearing earlier in the day that the back-end portion of the website that will do the processing still needs to be completed.
Carney couldn’t answer whether Chao’s comment was accurate when NBC’s Chuck Todd asked “what’s the point of the website” if payments can’t go through; the White House press secretary ultimately referred Todd to CMS.