Obamacare websites to be fixed with “tech surge”

The Obama administration says it has called on ''the best and brightest'' tech experts from both government and the private sector to help fix the troubled website at the root of the Obamacare enrollment problems.

The unusual 600-word blog post from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Sunday came as the first update in over a week on the many failings of the website that HHS itself described as ''frustrating for many Americans.''

However, the HHS did not specify whom the administration had called in, or when the American people would see clear-cut results on HealthCare.gov.

The Health and Human Services statement did not explain everything that was wrong, nor did it give technical details about the repairs under way. It outlined some steps that were being taken to fix the site, which included updates with ''new code that includes bug fixes.''

The department also said it was installing monitors to catch parts of the website that were proving the most troublesome for consumers.

It added it had seen some improvements in wait times and consumer access to the website, the online portal to health insurance exchanges or marketplaces the federal government was running in 36 states.

According to the administration, one essential component - the federal data hub was working as hoped.

That hub was crucial, linking federal agencies to determine an applicant's eligibility for Obamacare coverage and subsidies.

The federal site is the government's online portal for people looking for new health plans and subsidies under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, which seeks to insure as many as 7 million people by the end of March.

Employees and contractors for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a part of the health department, have been working to fix it.

HHS would also get help from members of a White House programme called ''innovation fellows, according to the department spokesman.

Under the leaders from the private sector, academia and nonprofits temporarily work on government projects with difficult histories, including computer and data systems and disaster response.