Washington, DC – The Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is not keeping complete and reliable information on how much it is spending to implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  In response to the report, Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Charles Boustany Jr., M.D. (R-LA) issued the following statements.

“The Administration has tried to hide the ball from Congress on just how much it is spending on the health care law,“ said Camp.  “After ignoring repeated requests from Congress, we now find out that the Administration is not even keeping track of how many taxpayer dollars are going out the door.  Worse yet, the Administration won’t even account for how much it spent on public relations campaigns promoting their unpopular law. “

“The GAO’s report confirms what we already know – this Administration is not interested in following the letter of the law when it comes to the ACA,“ added Boustany.  “Chairman Camp, my colleagues, and I won’t stop demanding answers until the Administration is held fully accountable for this action.”

The report found:  

• Unreliable data: GAO found that the “reliability of most of the information CMS provided could not be determined.”

• Spending unaccounted for: HHS could not or would not disclose how much money it spent on polling, focus groups and advertising to promote the ACA.  It also could not or would not account for whether the nearly 350 employees now working on the ACA were transferred from Medicare and Medicaid work or newly hired.

• Money being diverted from Medicare & Medicaid: GAO report found that $3 billion appropriated to run the CMS programs were used to run the ACA.  GAO further stated that “we do not have any assurance whether these amounts are reliable and whether the actual amounts are larger.”

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