Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) called for Obama administration officials on Monday to address the reported inability to provide an accurate accounting of subsidies that were paid out through the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Portman pressed Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to account for billions of dollars in subsidies that were reportedly awarded through ACA’s online healthcare exchange, healthcare.gov.
HHS recently said healthcare.gov was unable to verify the incomes of enrollees, which is used to determine eligibility for subsidies to help pay for health coverage. The statement allegedly contradicts what HHS officials told Congress last year.
“The insurance coverage provisions of the ACA place a substantial burden on American taxpayers, $36 billion in 2014,” Portman, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said. “But according to recent reports, your agencies’ implementation of the ACA may be adding to those costs by failing to adequately account for the billions of dollars that the law pays out to health insurance companies as premium subsidies on behalf of individuals. It is unacceptable for your agencies’ implementation of the ACA to further burden taxpayers by failing to protect against fraud and waste.”
Recent reports allege that as many as 1.5 million ACA enrollees may have received higher subsidies than was justified by their income.
Portman requested estimates on how much money HHS has paid out through healthcare.gov, information on what steps have been taken to verify income and an update on what is being done to correct or prevent fraud.