President Obama admits HealthCare.gov was a ‘well-documented disaster’

President Barack Obama is again acknowledging critics of his signature health-care initiative as the government continues to grapple with new, technologically complex demands. President Obama concedes that HealthCare.gov was a "well-documented disaster" and a kind of wake-up call for the way government relates to technology, saying "With all the crises we were dealing with -- the economy collapsing, the auto industry on the verge of collapse, winding down wars—this did not get the kind of laser-focused attention until ­Healthcare.gov, which was a well-­documented disaster, but ended up anyways being the catalyst for us saying, 'Okay, we have to completely revamp how we do things.'"

President Obama goes on to blame ancient procurement rules that didn't allow officials any flexibility in designing a massive Web site that Washington had never tried before. Since then, he said, he's taken steps to make sure government and technology work better together in the future.