Republicans members of the United States House Ways and Means Committee sent an official letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius regarding issues with the system of income verification used by the Affordable Healthcare (Obamacare) exchanges.
The inquiry is based on numerous documented reports of the exchanges miscalculating the legal eligibility for federal tax credits offered to new policy holders. This would lead to reporting erroneous and inaccurate overall health plan costs to consumers opting to participate in federal or state healthcare plans.
“The law requires [that] you (Sebelius) certify to Congress that a system is in place that can accurately verify eligibility before tax credits are made available. We do not believe you can make that certification today. We also believe it is time to acknowledge that we really do not know if you will be able to do so before January 1st,” the letter says.
The letter cites specific cases where healthcare policy costs were miscalculated, increasing the policy cost for customers. It cites the case of Jessica S. of Washington State, which the President used as a case example of how well the exchanges do work.
The letter includes several questions for Sebelius and requires her response by November, 27th, 2013.
One Comment
Male Matters USA
Problems upon problems, it seems, with Obamacare. Yet the biggest problem may be yet to come after the healthcare program is well underway.
In 2009, President Obama said Medicaid is “a broken system.” Did he propose plans to fix it? No. He is bringing millions of more Americans into the broken system. This is a prescription for disaster.
“People respond to incentives, although not necessarily in ways that are predictable or manifest. Therefore, one of the most powerful laws in the universe is the law of unintended consequences.” -From the book “SuperFreakonomics”
That in mind, see:
“Obamacare: Making a bad situation worse”
http://relevantmatters.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/obamacare-will-make-a-bad-situation-worse/