The Obama administration has spent and wasted billions of taxpayer dollars in implementing the Affordable Care Act, often through regulations it has issued without statutory authority. The illegal actions in implementing the law were the subject of a House Ways and Means Oversight subcommittee hearing today, chaired by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL). Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute testified, chronicling more than 30 instances in which the administration has issued regulations or guidance that conflict with the language of the statute.
“The ACA has caused enormous disruption to our health sector and economy,” Turner said. “But the disruption has been exacerbated because the administration has played fast and loose with the language of the statute. Rather than abide by the law or ask Congress to make changes, the administration has instead made significant changes through regulation, guidance, and even blog posts. However difficult it may have been to implement this complex law as it was written and passed, the administration does not have the authority to amend it and spend billions of taxpayer dollars without congressional approval.”
Turner praised Oversight subcommittee chairman Roskam who is calling for a Special Inspector General to investigate the administration’s actions and track how tens of billions of dollars have been spent. “The Special IG is needed,” Turner said, “because implementation stretches across eight separate federal agencies so no one IG is in charge of checking how taxpayer dollars are being spent – and likely wasted – in implementing the law.”
Rep. Roskam’s Special Inspector General for Monitoring the Affordable Care (SIGMA) Act would create an ObamaCare watchdog to conduct much-needed audits of the ACA and guard against further waste of tax dollars.
Here is Grace-Marie’s full testimony before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight.