GANGSTER GOVERNMENT: Watchdog knocks administration for misusing Obamacare funds.
In 2014, the industry-funded reinsurance program was supposed to provide $10 billion to insurers and $2 billion to the federal Treasury. But when total collections from insurers amounted to only $9.7 billion, the Department of Health and Human Services opted to funnel all of the money toward insurers. The agency paid insurers $7.9 billion in claims for 2014, the first year of exchange coverage, and held over the remaining $1.7 billion for future payments.
Republicans, who asked the GAO investigate the issue, hailed the GAO’s finding as vindication for their longstanding claims that the Obama administration is wrongly prioritizing insurers over taxpayers.
“This new opinion from the government’s top watchdog confirms that the Obama administration is not above the law,” said Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a statement. “The administration needs to put an end to the Great Obamacare Heist immediately.”
HHS told the GAO that its funding decision was within its discretion under the Affordable Care Act. But the GAO ruled otherwise, finding that the statute clearly requires that the Treasury get a share of the funds.
Hey, insurance companies had to get some kind of payback for all the support they gave ObamaCare in the early days.
That is, the support they gave the law before they were losing hundreds of millions selling ObamaCare policies, and started pulling out of the exchanges.