WASHINGTON, DC - The House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), today released a new report, entitled, “Obamacare Oversight: 112-114th Congress."
Since the passage of Obamacare in 2010, the committee has convened 31 oversight hearings within its Oversight and Investigations and Health subcommittees, with 107 witnesses testifying - 38 of which were administration officials.
The report chronicles the committee’s six years of conducting rigorous oversight on Obamacare. The committee’s most notable investigations include:
* The administration’s decision to fund the Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) program and the Basic Health Program (BHP) without a lawful appropriation;
* The failed launch of Healthcare.gov and mismanagement of the information technology systems by HHS and its component agencies;
* The failure of four out of 17 state-based exchanges, and the misuse of federal grant money in the creation and operation of the state-based exchanges;
* The closure of 18 out of 23 CO-OPs (Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans), and the associated loss of $2 billion taxpayer dollars; and
* The administration’s decision to divert payments from the U.S. Treasury to insurance companies through the Transitional Reinsurance Program.
Despite unprecedented stonewalling by the Obama Administration, the majority committee staff issued five reports in the 114th Congress. These reports identified 59 findings and made 9 recommendations for executive or legislative action.
“Oversight is one of the most critical roles Congress can play. From the time President Obama signed the law, our colleagues in the House and this committee have had legitimate concerns about Obamacare. Through this rigorous oversight, we identified mismanagement in implementing the law, fundamental flaws in the structure of the law, and unlawful appropriations, among other major concerns," said Chairman Walden and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA). “As Congress works to repeal and rebuild our health care system, this compendium serves as a refresher for the problems the committee has uncovered, and illustrates just how far the Obama administration went to deny our requests for the most basic information."
