The Finance Committee today held a hearing on an undercover operation from Congress’ auditing and investigative agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), that found that the government-run health care program enrolled 11 of 12 fake applicants in 2014, then automatically re-enrolled them for 2015. In response to a question from Sen. Chuck Grassley, a witness from the GAO confirmed that the health care program prioritizes enrollment and access over program integrity. Grassley made the following comment on this approach.
“The undercover operation shows that the President’s health care plan isn’t working in the taxpayers’ best interest. Fake individuals were allowed to enroll with either false documentation, partial documentation or no documentation. Most of the fake individuals were allowed to continue receiving taxpayer subsidies. The law requires verification, but that didn’t happen in the undercover operation. Instead, the federal government allowed promises to take the place of verification. That has terrible implications for the taxpayers. The GAO documented systemic failures and illustrated how the government’s attitude is to enroll people first and worry about eligibility later, if at all. This approach leaves the taxpayers on the hook for an even bigger bill than expected for Obamacare. That’s unacceptable.”
Information on the hearing, including GAO testimony and video with Grassley’s question, is available here.
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