Front-End HealthCare.gov Problems May Be Masking Bigger Back-End Problems

Quickly fixing Obamacare's most visible problems could be a disaster for the health care law.

By now, pretty much everyone knows that HealthCare.gov, the main portal to access the law's new insurance exchanges, doesn't work. When the site first launched, hardly anyone could create an account to begin shopping for coverage. And though the registration problems have gotten better, enrollment is still an uphill climb.

The site's disastrous front end has overshadowed another set of serious problems on the back end. Insurance companies say they're seeing widespread errors in the trickle of applications they do receive through the exchanges.

And until those errors can be fixed, it might be best to leave enrollment at a trickle.

"Is CMS stupid enough to fix the front end of this thing before they fix the back end?" asked Bob Laszewski, a health care consultant who works closely with insurers.