Washington, DC – Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and Republican Members of the Committee wrote to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew demanding Treasury halt all unverified subsidy payments to health insurers until the Administration is able to protect taxpayer dollars by ensuring an income and subsidy verification system is up and running.

According to a recent Washington Post article, there are now as many as 1.5 million cases of significantly inaccurate subsidy payments due to incorrect income data, and the government does not expect to begin sorting out the inaccuracies until later this summer. These errors occurred because the Administration failed to complete the healthcare.gov system and ensure that the income verification system was working. As a result, Treasury is sending potentially billions of taxpayer dollars out the door, knowing that the Administration will not be able to fully recuperate the money sent in error.  

The Members wrote, “Instead of taking action now, the Administration intends to continue spending taxpayer dollars and hopes that someday, somehow, it will recapture these improper payments. This is outrageous, but not surprising given the Administration’s past performance in implementing the President’s health care law.”