Reps. Brady, Buchanan Warn Biden Admin Against Destroying Key Documents on Unilateral Rewrite of Obamacare

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 -- Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, Republican leader on the House Ways and Means Committee, issued the following news release and letter:

With the price of health insurance jumping 30 percent and the Biden Administration's decision to unilaterally rewrite Obamacare, key documents underpinning the move must not be destroyed prior to being turned over to Congress, write top House Ways and Means Republicans.

Ways and Means Republican Leader Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) along with Health Subcommittee Republican Leader Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) wrote a letter urging the Treasury Department to preserve records of how this Administration justifies violating a decade of legal implementation of the law and to produce them in response to their longstanding request.

In the letter, the members write:

"The lack of a sufficient response from the Administration to date is disappointing and unacceptable. Transparency is essential because it promotes accountability and provides information for the Congress and Americans about what the federal government is doing. The American people deserve to know how their government works and how decisions are being made.

"This is especially critical when the Administration makes a unilateral policy decision without congressional action, and the expected impacts of such a policy are so severe. For example, it has been estimated that about 90 percent of the roughly five million people affected by this illegal expansion already have health insurance coverage. Even worse, it is projected the rule displaces private sector health care spending with a potential increase of $34 billion over 10 years in government spending."

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KEY TAKEAWAYS:

The Biden Administration Unilaterally & Illegally Rewrote Obamacare.

* President Biden has illegally changed the enacted law through regulatory action, without an act of Congress.

* Despite pressure from Democrats to make changes to Obamacare after passage, the Obama Administration determined that it lacked the authority to do so, which is consistent with both the statutory text and the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation's (JCT) analysis of the law.

* Along with the Obama Treasury Department, 51 congressional Democrats agreed that Congress must legislate in order to change eligibility rules.

Republicans Called for Transparency in How the Administration Justified Rewriting the Law.

* Obamacare's legislative text makes clear that employees with affordable coverage (as defined in the law) should not receive federal subsidies to cover dependents.

* Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health Republican Leader Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) offered a resolution of inquiry seeking records of how the White House justifies violating a decade of legal implementation of the law - but Democrats rejected the resolution.

* The Administration also ducked meetings with stakeholder groups who felt that the proposed rule should be withdrawn "because it is an impermissible reading of the statute and bad policy."

Illegally Rewriting Obamacare Without Congress Shows Democrats Know It's Broken & Will Do Nothing to Address High Health Care Costs.

* The cost of health insurance shot up at the highest rate in history - nearly 30 percent in the last year.

* Instead of working across the aisle to lower the true cost of health care, the Biden Administration has continued to fuel higher premiums with increased and expanded subsidies.

* The average price paid for health insurance ("premiums") jumped by 143 percent between 2013 and 2019.

* At the same time that premiums more than doubled in the individual market, deductibles for ACA-compliant coverage also increased by an average of 35 percent -- over $1,700 for individuals and $3,600 for families.

* Over 10 years, spending on health care per person increased by 28.7 percent.

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October 20, 2022

The Honorable Janet L. Yellen, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20220

Dear Secretary Yellen,

We write to request that you preserve all documents and communications in your custody relating to the Administration's April 7, 2022, proposed rule aimed at "fixing" the so-called "family glitch" in the Affordable Care Act (ACA)./1 Congressional Republicans have repeatedly sought information from the Administration about the expected and actual impacts of this policy for more than six months, but still have not received an adequate response from the Biden Administration. Today we reiterate our concern about the Administration's unilateral action on a matter reserved solely to the Congress under the U.S. Constitution.

Specifically, Ways and Means Ranking Member Brady and Senate Finance Ranking Member Crapo sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Treasury on April 28, 2022, regarding the Biden Administration's April 7, 2022, decision./2 The letter requested documents and information dating back to February 2013, including documents related to the Administration's decision to change the affordability rule despite having held an alternative position for more than a decade; a comprehensive economic impact analysis; an analysis of the effects on health insurance coverage, premiums, and federal subsidies across all market segments impacted; and information regarding the Administration's interpretation of the statute.

On June 6, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury provided an insufficient response that failed to answer any of the questions asked in the April 28, 2022, letter adequately. In an effort to obtain information from other entities in the Administration who may have been involved in this policy decision, Ways and Means Ranking Member Brady and Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Buchanan filed a Resolution of Inquiry (ROI) on July 26, 2022, seeking communications between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the White House about this issue./3 Unfortunately, on September 20, 2022, the Committee on Ways and Means unfavorably reported H. Res. 1262.

The lack of a sufficient response from the Administration to date is disappointing and unacceptable. Transparency is essential because it promotes accountability and provides information for the Congress and Americans about what the federal government is doing. The American people deserve to know how their government works and how decisions are being made. This is especially critical when the Administration makes a unilateral policy decision without congressional action, and the expected impacts of such a policy are so severe. For example, it has been estimated that about 90 percent of the roughly five million people affected by this illegal expansion already have health insurance coverage./4

Even worse, it is projected the rule displaces private sector health care spending with a potential increase of $34 billion over 10 years in government spending./5 Despite the Administration's inadequate response to our initial request, we continue to expect that the Department provide the documents and information requested in the April 28, 2022, letter, which is attached for your reference. We also request that you provide all communications between your Department, the White House, and/or HHS employees related to the decision to "fix" the so-called "family glitch" via regulatory changes.

Moreover, we insist that you take all appropriate measures to collect and preserve all documents, communications, and other records that are relevant to the Administration's "fix" to the ACA's so-called "family glitch." Specifically, this request includes, but is not limited to, all types of documents and essential communications between and among your Department, the White House, and/or HHS employees related to the proposed rule announced on April 7, 2022, and the final rule issued on October 11, 2022.

Please provide a response to the April 28, 2022, letter and the documents requested in this letter, and confirm that you have taken actions to preserve documents related to this matter by November 3, 2022. If you have any questions or wish to discuss the request, please contact Sean Clerget of the Ways and Means Committee staff at (202) 225-4021.

Sincerely,

Kevin Brady, Republican Leader, Committee on Ways and Means

Vern Buchanan, Republican Leader, Subcommittee on Health

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Footnotes:

1 See 87 Fed. Reg. at 20354.

2 Letter from H. Comm. on Ways and Means Ranking Member Kevin Brady and S. Comm. on Finance Ranking Member Mike Crapo to The Hon. Janet L. Yellen, Sec'y of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Apr. 28, 2022), https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022.04.28_Brady-Crapo-to-Yellen.pdf.

3 H. Res. 1262, 117th Cong. (2022), https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/H.-RES.- 1262.pdf.

4 Timothy S. Jost, A Fix for the Family Glitch, THE COMMONWEALTH FUND (Apr. 12, 2022), https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/fix-family-glitch.

5 Congressional Budget Office, Federal Subsidies for Health Insurance Coverage for People Under 65: 2022 to 2032 (June 2022), https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2022-06/57962-health-insurance-subsidies.pdf.

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Original text here: https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/brady-buchanan-warn-biden-admin-against-destroying-key-documents-on-unilateral-rewrite-of-obamacare/