I don’t want estimates

Yesterday, I questioned Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Andy Slavitt on the rising premium rates and overall sustainability of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) during a joint Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing.

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Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee Investigation:

In spring 2015, I led an investigation into two failed programs of the ACA: State-Based Exchanges (SBEs) and Consumer Oriented and Operated Plans (CO-OPs). The findings of the investigation revealed insolvency, careless management, and billions in wasted federal funds.

SBEs are organizations set up to facilitate the purchase of health insurance. We found that they have wasted $4.6 billion in federal grant funding and four out of the original 17 SBE’s have shut down. While the Administration claimed that SBE’s would be self-sustaining by January 1, 2015, every SBE continues to use taxpayer money.

CO-OPs were designed to encourage healthy competition within the individual and small group health insurance markets. They’ve also had costly failures, totaling up to $1.8 billion, and 17 out of the original 23 CO-OPs have closed, the most recent of which occurred this week in New Jersey.

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