The Obama administration announced Thursday that states with faulty Obamacare enrollment websites will be able to “retroactively” give taxpayer subsidies to people who signed up for private insurance plans off the Obamacare exchanges.
The administration’s executive decision to make Obamacare tax credits, which count as subsidies, available to non-Obamacare customers was slammed Friday by House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Joe Pitts.
“It is outrageous for the Obama administration to be quietly telling states: pay subsidies now, worry about the paperwork later. The administration is blatantly ignoring the law, paying subsidies to plans outside of exchanges,” Pitts said.
“Additionally, this ‘pay now, verify later’ directive could be a boon for fraudsters, raising the administration’s unaccountability to the likes we have not seen. Once again, the self-proclaimed ‘most transparent administration in history’ is caught trying to hide another change from the public. The unilateral delays and changes have been rampant. The American people deserve better – they deserve fairness for all,” Pitts said.
“I applaud the federal government for its efforts to make this financial assistance available for more Oregonians,” said Democratic Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, whose state’s Obamacare enrollment figures as of last Friday registered at less than 800. Oracle, the current contractor on the “Cover Oregon” website, moved 100 out of approximately 165 programmers off the project Friday.