WASHINGTON, DC-- Today, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on Rep. Rick Allen’s (R-Ga.-12) bill, H.R. 4262, the Transparency and Accountability of Failed Exchanges Act and other legislation, which work to advance a patient centered and cost-effective approach to our healthcare system. Allen issued the following statement in support of the hearing:
“I thank the House Energy and Commerce Committee for their discussion of my bill during the subcommittee hearing today. I was pleased to see that there was no opposition to my bill. Each witness testifying, two republican and one democrat, spoke in support of H.R. 4262. As we’ve seen in places like Oregon, Hawaii, Nevada and others, Obamacare state exchanges are faulting, and many are on shaky grounds. We need a strategy in place to recoup the billions of no strings attached taxpayer dollars doled out by the President to establish these state exchanges. My bill is simple--it brings transparency to the taxpayer and accountability to state exchanges by providing clear steps to recoup federal funds when they ultimately fail. I am glad to see the committee taking an interest in my legislation, because with more state exchanges on the verge of failure, we need policy and a plan in place now.”
Background: When Obamacare was signed into law, the President freely gave money away to states to establish the state exchanges— however they forgot one piece of the puzzle. They provided no solution for recovering these funds when the state exchanges failed. Billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent since and state exchanges in multiple states have failed.
The Transparency and Accountability of Failed Exchanges Act provides two important steps in recovering taxpayer assets and ensuring transparency:
- Conducts an audit to see how and where money was spent
- Requires all unused funds to be returned to the Treasury Department for deficit reduction and any real property purchased be returned to the General Services Administration
