Report: Officials scrambling to complete ObamaCare fixes

The government’s effort to prevent another meltdown of HealthCare.gov this year is coming down to the wire ahead of open enrollment, according to a report.

Federal officials are still working on backup plans for the healthcare website, according to a review of confidential government documents by The Washington Post. The fixes are part of a contingency plan in case the government’s months of repairs don’t hold up.

For example, the website will now have multiple “virtual waiting rooms” for users who try to log on while the website is temporarily strained with high traffic or other problems.

The waiting rooms will be used under a new system called “throttling,” which effectively slows the traffic for a period of time to help manage the network.

Hundreds of federal workers have helped to build up the capacity of the website. HealthCare.gov will now be able to host at least 250,000 visitors at once — twice as much traffic as its busiest day last year, according to a report by The Huffington Post.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees the website, has touted its progress, though officials have been careful not to promise a perfect rollout.

“We’re really making sure the website works super-well before the next open enrollment period. We’re double- and triple-checking it,” the president said during a press conference last week.

A key part of the government’s improvement plan this year is to allow for more time for testing.

Insurers began testing the website in early October, giving plenty more time than last year, when they only had 10 days to test the system. The Obama administration also offered a soft launch to a handful of states for its Small Business Health Options Program.