The U.S. Government Accountability Office finalized its probe into the launch of HealthCare.gov, the federal health insurance exchange website for states without their own insurance exchange.

HealthCare.gov was plagued with a series of problems following its launch on Oct. 1, 2013. People seeking health insurance experienced web page failures, errors and a slow response time. The GAO conducted a probe into the launch of the website due to the "high degree of congressional interest" in the website's development and other issues. The GAO also disclosed recommendations for the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to improve better management of the federal health insurance exchange.

The GAO team, comprised of nonpartisan investigators, found the Obama administration, namely the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, operated "without effective planning or oversight practices despite facing a number of challenges that increased both the level of risk and the need for effective oversight."

As a result, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services encountered important cost increases, schedule slips and delayed system functionality.

The GAO also concluded that there was confusion on the part of authority figures who had to approve contractor requests because of existing "inconsistent contractor oversight" in the program office and indistinguishable roles and responsibilities.

The GAO issued five recommendations. The first is for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to take "immediate steps" to evaluate the cost to continue the federal health insurance exchange and develop a plan to ensure "timely and successful" system performance.

The second recommendation is to ensure better oversight including how contractors are performing.

The third recommendation is to formalize current guidance on the roles and responsibilities of contractors and other personnel, especially if assigned oversight duties.

The penultimate recommendation is create, improve and provide direction for acquisition strategies and address situations such as risks and different type of contracts.

The final recommendation is for information technology projects to follow the requirements set forth by its governance board for approval before continuing further developments.

The GAO noted the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services agreed on four of the recommendations but "partially concurred" with one.

According to government figures, 8 million people have signed up through either HealthCare.gov or their state's exchange websites.

HHS said the Affordable Care Act can provide up to 10.2 million uninsured Latinos with affordable health insurance coverage. As Latin Post reported, HHS received a lower than projected number of applicants that reported their race or ethnicity as "Latino," which represented 10.7 percent of individuals enrolled. In comparison to Whites, they represented the largest proportion with 62.9 percent.

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