Enrollment up, HealthCare.gov back on track, Sebelius testifies Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that the ailing health insurance Web site was improving thanks to "relentless" efforts to work out the bugs, and cited an uptick in enrollment as evidence that the program is back on track after a false start. But she told a congressional panel that the problems that initially plagued HealthCare.gov were "unacceptable," and that as a result she was creating a new position in the department to head off similar failures and had directed the HHS inspector general to investigate what went wrong. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a House committee on Wednesday that the signup trend for the new health insurance markets is turning positive. "The initial launch of Healthcare.gov was flawed, frustrating and unacceptable," Sebelius told members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Now that the Web site is working more smoothly, I've determined it's the right time to begin a process of better understanding the structural and managerial policies that led to the flawed launch so we can take action to avoid these problems in the future. About 365,000 Americans chose health plans during the first two months of the federal and state insurance marketplaces, administration officials announced Wednesday, bringing the total to more than triple the meager enrollment from October. During the hearing, Sebelius disclosed that through the end of October, the administration had spent $319 million on information technology related to HealthCare.gov - up from the $174 million figure she cited during her last appearance before the committee Oct. 30. Asked by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the committee, if she would have delayed the Oct. 1 launch date for HealthCare.gov, Sebelius responded, "On balance, I am not sure what the right answer is." "I would have done a slower launch, maybe with fewer people and perhaps more beta testing," she said a little bit later. Republicans also hammered on a theme that they have centered on in recent weeks as the administration has labored to repair the Web site - that the problems with the health-care law extend far beyond the technological issues. They cited the millions of Americans whose health plans are being cancelled despite assurances from President Obama that people who liked their insurance could keep it under his law. "Millions of Americans are being harmed by this law," Health subcommittee Chairman Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) said. My constituents do not trust the administration when it comes to the Affordable Care Act, and it is they who are suffering because of these broken promises. But the uptick in enrollment provided fodder for Democratic lawmakers, who have struggled to defend the law's poor rollout this fall but contended on Wednesday that the health law's benefits were finally coming into focus now that the Web site is functioning better.