Following reports of waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars at Affordable Care Act (ACA) application processing facilities, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) recently renewed his call for transparency from the Obama administration.
Employees at application processing centers in Missouri, Kentucky and Arkansas recently levied allegations that they were being paid taxpayer dollars to do nothing.
“I’m increasingly concerned about reports of ongoing taxpayer fraud and waste at Obamacare processing centers around the country and about the serious lack of transparency and accountability from the Obama administration,” Blunt said. “Americans have a right to know if the federal government is wasting billions of their hard-earned taxpayer dollars, and they deserve an explanation and resolution now.”
Blunt and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) requested a response to the allegations from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in May.
Although the senators requested responses to specific questions related to the alleged inefficiencies at ACA application processing centers, they had not received a response from the CMS or HHS as of Friday.
The allegations first surfaced from employees at a Serco processing center in Wenztville, Mo., on May 13. Serco is a private firm that was contracted by the federal government for $1.25 billion.