Obama: Healthcare Reform Is Working

 Despite serious technical glitches, President Obama says thousands of people are signing up and saving money with the healthcare reform law. 

In a White House event, the President acknowledged serious issues in the online rollout of the new healthcare exchanges.  He insisted they are going to get fixed.  The President argued that the overall healthcare reform law is working and represents much more than a website. 

Obama said nobody is more frustrated than he is about the online glitches.  He stressed that there is no excuse for the problems.  The President said a "tech surge" is underway to fix the glitches, "24-7."  He noted that people can also sign up by phone or in person.  Congressional Republicans have been harshly critical of the rollout and a House hearing is scheduled Thursday to analyze the problems.  The President accused Republicans of  rooting for the failure of what is commonly referred to as Obamacare. 

The White House event included people who the President said are benefiting from the healthcare reform law.  The crowd included consumers, small business owners and pharmacists.  A six month open enrollment period for the new healthcare exchanges started this month on the website healthcare.gov.  The President cited a "massive demand" and said roughly 20-million people have visited the site since it opened for business.