Republican leaders are demanding answers on how the Obama administration could send the wrong tax form to nearly 1 million people who purchased health insurance through Obamacare.
Two House panels will hold hearings this week on the issue, and other lawmakers are asking pointed questions on the error disclosed by administration officials on Friday.
“Why did you decide to wait until the close of open enrollment [on Feb. 15] to announce this mistake?” asked Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in a Monday letter to Marilyn Tavenner, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director, and Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen.
Hatch also wants details on how the mistake happened and who made the error. The administration said Friday it doesn’t know how the error occurred.
“Americans should feel confident that information sent to them by their government, supposedly for their benefit, is accurate and timely,” said Rep. Peter Roskam in a Friday letter to Tavenner. Roskam is chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on oversight.
Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell will go before the health subcommittee for the Energy & Commerce committee on Thursday. While the hearing will focus on a variety of Obamacare issues, the tax forms will be an area of interest, a source familiar with the hearing told the Washington Examiner.
The House Oversight Committee also will hold a hearing on Thursday on the error and Obamacare’s open enrollment period, which was extended to accommodate people eligible to pay the individual mandate penalty. The committee hasn’t unveiled a witness list yet.
The form incorrectly listed the 2015 premium amount instead of the 2014 amount for the second-cheapest silver plan, which is among three plan options that include gold and bronze. The premium amount represents the benchmark plan used to determine the amount of tax credits a person should receive.
The administration estimates about 20 percent of Obamacare tax filers are eligible for a tax credit to lower their premiums.
The wrong form was sent to 800,000 people, 50,000 of whom already filed their tax returns. The administration said Friday it is reaching out to the people who haven’t filed, and the U.S. Treasury Department will contact those who already have.
Those who already filed their returns will probably need to file again using the amended form, Alan Viard, a scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, told the Washington Examiner.
The administration wants the remaining 750,000 to hold off filing their returns until March so they can use the new form.
