Up to 40 percent of Obamacare's 'back office' functions yet to be built, tech chief says

Henry Chao, the Obama administration official who oversaw the technical development of the federal health insurance marketplace, said Tuesday that his team has yet to complete 30 to 40 percent of the overall project. Speaking before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Oversight Committee, Chao said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is still working on a number of "back office" aspects of the project, including a system to send payments to insurance companies. Parts of the project that users would see — notably the Web portal, HealthCare.gov — are 100 percent finished, he said. But "the accounting systems, the payment systems, they still need to be" completed, Chao said.