House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp issued a subpoena Tuesday to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide its data on enrollment in the Obamacare exchanges.
The Obama administration has resisted calls for the enrollment figures since the opening of the Obamacare exchanges over a month ago.
Camp first requested the enrollment figures during a hearing in late October, and again in writing on Nov. 1.
In a Monday response letter to Camp’s Nov. 1 missive, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner denied his request but appeared to indicate that the agency did have access to enrollment data. Tavenner committed to releasing the data by “mid-November.” (RELATED: Number of Obamacare enrollees to be released next week)
Camp, however, wants the data by Nov. 8.
“Millions of Americans are receiving cancellation notices for their insurance policies, and yet the administration has failed to create and implement viable exchanges where Americans can enroll in affordable coverage,” Camp wrote in his letter to Tavenner. “Furthermore, the failure to sign up enough people, especially young Americans, will lead to an even greater increase in premiums – pushing health care out of reach for millions of Americans and shifting even higher costs onto those who already have health insurance through their job.”
“We are past the point of rallies, rollouts and revisionism,” he continued. “Congress and the American people need the facts.”
According to Camp’s office, this is the second subpoena the Michigan congressman has issued as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa subpoenaed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Oct. 31 for documents related to the botched roll out of HealthCare.gov, including the enrollment figures.