House Republicans and Democrats lobbed fierce questions but got few answers from a key Obamacare official on botched tax forms sent to nearly 1 million people.
The questions during a Thursday subcommittee hearing come amid several problems the Obama administration has encountered with the tax portion of the law set to go into effect this year.
“We are still seeing problems with healthcare.gov,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Oversight committee’s health subcommittee.
The error on the form sent to 820,000 people was related to two pieces of code that threw off how the tax credits were calculated, said Kevin Counihan, CEO of healthcare.gov. The incorrect form, on tax form 1095-A, was sent to Obamacare customers in the second-cheapest silver plan, one of three plan options available.
Democrats were also dismayed by the error, which Counihan said is still being investigated.
“I am disappointed that the agency made this kind of mistake at a critical time,” said Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., ranking member of the panel. “This is an unforced error that provides fodder for those who want to tear down the Affordable Care Act.”
“What are you doing to correct this problem so that we don’t have future mistakes?” asked Rep. Michelle Grisham, D-N.M.
Republicans also grilled Counihan on why it took so long to get re-enrollment numbers to the committee.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said that Counihan shared re-enrollment numbers in healthcare.gov with insurance providers back in December but didn’t share them with the committee until the day before the hearing.
Counihan said he would have to look into the issue. He said that the government needs to verify numbers before releasing them, hence the delay in providing numbers to the congressman.
The deflection didn’t sit well with Republicans on the panel.
“You are certainly not ready today,” said Rep. Scott Desjarlais, R-Tenn.
“It is obvious this gentleman is stonewalling the committee,” Meadows added.
Meadows also wanted Counihan to say how many Obamacare customers who automatically re-enrolled are getting the wrong subsidy.
“According to my numbers, there are hundreds of thousands of people getting the wrong subsidy,” he said.
“If people didn’t come back to the marketplace and not updated the eligibility it is possible they could get the wrong subsidy,” Counihan said, but didn’t have estimates on how many people are getting the wrong subsidy. He said that 2.83 million people re-enrolled in Obamacare.
Republicans also asked whether illegal immigrants have received subsidies from the healthcare law, especially those covered under President Obama’s executive action he took last year.
Counihan again couldn’t say if any received subsidies. He noted that the administration reviews the eligibility of anyone who applies for healthcare coverage to ensure that they are eligible. He added that illegal immigrants aren’t eligible to get subsidies since they are not American citizens.
The tax form error was the latest problem to befall the adminstration’s roll out of the tax portion of the law.
The Treasury Department announced Wednesday that the 50,000 tax filers who already filed their returns with the incorrect forms could keep any overpayments. However, the individuals who have to pay more need to refile their returns.
Affected taxpayers who haven’t filed their returns will get new tax forms next week.
