Two powerful Republicans threatened Friday to subpoena the Obama administration unless it explains by Jan. 28 why it is funding an obscure program under Obamacare without explicit approval from Congress.
The administration has said the Affordable Care Act of 2010 granted it the power to fund the Basic Health Program, but GOP critics disagree.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady of Texas and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton of Michigan said the Health and Human Services Department has been funding the program for six months without an appropriation.
They accused the agency of stonewalling their investigation into the situation by withholding or reeducating requested documents. If they cannot get the information they want, the chairmen said, they will use their subpoena power to get it.
“Your delay in producing this material to the Committee has frustrated the Committees’ investigation, and raises serious concerns about your commitment to congressional oversight,” they wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell.
The Basic Health Program was designed to give states the flexibility to help out people who make 200 percent of the federal poverty or less, but may float in and out of Medicaid eligibility. The federal government pays out 95 percent of the cost it would have otherwise paid in exchange subsidies and cost-sharing payments for the enrollees through the law’s web-based insurance portals.
So far, Minnesota and New York taken advantage of the provision.
In a statement, the administration defended its work to implement the program and keep Congress in the loop.
“The Basic Health Program provides flexibility and stability to both states and their consumers, and payments to states that choose this option are fully funded under the ACA,” HHS spokeswoman Meaghan Smith said. “The department has provided substantive documents and answers to Congress on this matter, sent a senior administration official to brief the committee, and the secretary has answered questions before the Ways and Means Committee, and we will continue working to address follow-up questions.”
Republican concerns about the program parallel claims in a House lawsuit against the administration.
GOP members are challenging President Obama’s decision to continue reimbursing insurers who have reduced co-pays and deductibles for qualified Obamacare enrollees as a condition of participating in the state-based health care exchanges.
The lawsuit says Congress never authorized spending for the cost-sharing program, and indeed zeroed out funding for it, so Mr. Obama was breaking the law and violating Congress’ constitutional power of the purse by continuing to disburse the funds.
U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, presiding in Washington, enthused conservatives and shocked Democrats in September by granted Republicans legal standing to sue Mr. Obama, meaning she will rule on its merits in the coming months.
The administration has argued it hasn’t done anything wrong, citing in both cases a permanent appropriation that also covers Obamacare’s exchange subsidies.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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