Internal emails show worries about healthcare.gov before launch

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eyewitness News' Washington Bureau has obtained copies of internal administration emails from the days leading up to the launch of healthcare.gov.

In one of the chains of emails, the chief project manager wrote the White House had fears about healthcare.gov being unavailable after going live.

The manager wanted to come up with something to tell people it was down because the media would take advantage of the optics.

The administration stated the website is improving daily and will be much better by the month's end.

However, there was an awkward moment with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius when she was at a press event Tuesday with a healthcare navigator.

"The screen says, 'Sorry your system is temporarily down.' Uh-oh. It's OK. It'll come back. That happens every day," she said.

After the rollout, hospitals are filing lawsuits. In order to keep policy costs down, many of the new insurance plans exclude top-rated and children's hospitals.

This means families with new policies from the federal exchange will end up paying a lot more if they need special services provided only at those facilities.

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See more on the Affordable Care Act here.

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