House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said on Saturday that the committee is working to “get to the bottom” of the botched HealthCare.gov rollout.
Upton said the committee met with four lead contractors of the HealthCare.gov website to hear their testimony about what went wrong. Next week, the committee will meet with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
“Oversight is not about blame – it is about accountability [and] transparency,” Upton said. “And it’s about fairness for the American public.”
Upton said that in a few months people who have not purchased insurance would be subject to penalty under the law’s individual mandate.
“In the past few days, the bipartisan chorus has been growing to delay the individual mandate, to delay the penalty that Americans would face for being unable to purchase insurance through this broken system,” Upton said. “The business mandate was delayed, and it’s only fair that individuals and families receive the same treatment.”
Upton said the administration promised people would have access to affordable insurance and they would be able to stay with their current insurance plan. But as current plans are terminated and premiums rise as much as 400 percent for some communities, he said the promise does not appear to have been kept.
“We will continue working toward patient-centered reforms that keep costs down for folks, all the while improving quality of care,” Upton said. “This is a matter of fairness for all.”