Max Baucus Questions if Healthcare.gov Should be Shutdown Until Fixed

Today, November 6, the Senate finance committee had its chance to interrogate Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in order to find out why the roll-out of Healthcare.gov has had so many problems and what can be done to fix it.

Committee chair and Montana Senior Senator Max Baucus put the responsibility squarely on Sebelius' shoulders.

"When this law was created, we made a promise to the American people," Baucus said. "We made a promise to fix a broken system. We made a promise to ensure that all Americans had access to quality, affordable, healthcare. We made a promise to ensure that no one ever went broke just because they got sick. You, madam secretary, must make good on that promise."

Baucus said that stories of people struggling to use the website were causing bad press and suggested that the entire website be shutdown until it works right.

"It's a bad media campaign, it's negative, it hurts, it doesn't help us," Baucus said. "So why not just have one bad story... shut down, and fix it all, then everything is working. You indicate it delays healthcare for a lot of people, and I appreciate that, but one more time, why not just get it done right?"

Baucus, who helped write the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), has said he wants to see what repairs can be made to the system before he considers delaying the individual mandate for all Americans to buy health insurance.