Uh oh, indeed, Kathleen Sebelius.
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius visited South Florida on Tuesday to meet with navigators tasked with assisting Floridians with signing up for Obamacare, Miami’s CBS affiliate reported. As the HHS Secretary made the rounds of North Shore Hospital in Miami, she took the time to watch a woman, Carmen Salerno, sign up for health insurance via the online marketplace at healthcare.gov. But as Sebelius looked on, the system crashed, as has become the norm for the glitch-filled website.
“The screen says I’m sorry but the system is temporarily down,” Brian Andrews, a reporter with CBS4 who was reporting on Sebelius’ visit, noted as he leaned over her shoulder.
The HHS Secretary tried to gracefully brush off the notice, simply saying, “Uh oh,” and Salerno attempted to come to her aide.
“That happens every day,” she said. “It must mean a lot of people are on there trying to get coverage.”
A throng of reporters and cameras caught the awkward moment as Sebelius attempted to grin and bear it.
At a news conference held later in the day, Sebelius reported a whopping two more South Floridians had successfully signed up to receive coverage through healthcare.gov in the hours during her visit. She went on to say she recognized the frustration many were feeling because of the malfunctions with healthcare.gov.
“They are frustrated with the web experience they had but they are eager enough to get coverage that they are going to return over and over again,” Sebelius said. “…We know we’re going to have to work really hard to get you to come back.”
Since the Oct. 1 launch of the federal and state exchanges, only 106,000 people have picked health plans. More than half of those, 76,391, registered in the state-run exchanges compared to the 26,794 who signed up in the federal marketplace.
Check out Sebelius’ “uh oh” moment below.
