U.S. Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Tim Murphy (R-PA) sought answers about the amount of federal dollars being used to subsidize rising healthcare premiums under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Upton and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Murphy made a request for the information from the Obama Administration.
In a letter to Andy Slavitt, administrator of the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, the congressmen recalled remarks made by Slavitt during a September hearing on the healthcare law and its insurance marketplaces.
The letter noted that Slavitt had previously said premiums charged by exchange health plans are lower than the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) initial projections. Slavitt had cited a Brookings Institution study that said marketplace premiums are currently 12 percent to 20 percent lower than CBO predicted when the Affordable Care Act was enacted.
“It is important to note that CBO’s 2010 enrollment projections were skewed, estimating that 21 million individuals would enroll in 2016,” the letter said. “In reality, effectuated enrollment for the first half of 2016 was 10.4 million – roughly half of CBO’s earlier projection.”
Regardless of CBO’s initial projections, premiums for ACA-compliant plans continue to rise,” the congressmen wrote.
The letter added that 84 percent of consumers who purchase a health plan on an ACA exchange qualify for federal tax credits to lower monthly premiums.
“While the administration continues to focus on premium ‘affordability,’ it ignores the undeniable fact that federal taxpayers are subsidizing these premium increases through tax credits,” the lawmakers wrote. “The committee is concerned that the federal taxpayer continues to bear the burden of subsidizing the growing cost of health care insurance.”