404CARE? -- SHOCK REPORT: Over 50,000 paper Obamacare applications still need to be processed, and that's just the start of it -- By Jamie Weinstein, The Daily Caller

While the Obama administration boasts that the front end of healthcare.gov is supposedly working better, the government reportedly still has to process over 50,000 paper applications it took in when the site was all but inoperable.

The stunning number was buried in a Washington Post report Friday.

“Even though HealthCare.gov has been working better since the start of the month, there are still reasons why people may be having trouble getting coverage,” Amy Goldstein reports for the Post. “One significant reason is that the federal marketplace has accumulated a backlog of 50,000 to 60,000 paper applications as cracks have appeared in that low-tech method offered this fall as a backup plan, according to government officials.”

While the Post reports that the government has hired an outside contractor — Serco — to help process the backlog, it remains unclear how long it might take.

“No one knows how many of the consumers who sent in a paper application have chosen a health plan online now that the Web site is working better,” reports Goldstein. “As a result, health officials are trying to work through the entire backlog, but it is unclear how completely or how quickly they can address it. The effort was hindered when a computer portal on which the contractor relies went down for three days in the past week, according to an individual with knowledge of the system who spoke on the condition of anonymity about information that has not been made public.”

(Click link below to read more)
READ MORE Sphere: Related Content