To me, the fight against Obamacare was warranted because we know there is massive fraud and waste, something that Democrats have never really been willing to admit.
If we could fix the fraud and eliminate the waste, such as the expanded coverage that was offered during Joe Biden’s term in office, we could probably get a workable model, at least until we come up with a new fix.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) has finally admitted to the existence of the Affordable Care Act's fundamental problems, and she is asking for a clean extension for now before tacking the remaining issues and fixing them before we do anything else.
Every time the GOP brings up fraud in our healthcare system, Democrats cry to the high heavens.
For example, during recent House hearings, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) stated, "So we talk about healthcare for Americans and they change the subject to talk about fraud. That's an old trick. When we talk about social security, they talk about fraud. When we talk about Medicare, they talk about fraud.”
If Raskin had his way, there would be no investigation into fraud in the system, and he would be happy to continue writing checks for billions of dollars with no accountability.
To that point, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) stated, “The reality is the Democrats created a boondoggle that has funneled billions of taxpayer dollars directly from the U.S. Treasury to large health insurance companies.”
Earlier this year, there was a report issued after bogus accounts were created to apply for Obamacare benefits. Nearly every account was approved without verification of citizenship or, really, any ID check.
There was also an investigation into companies authorized to sign up new enrollees, highlighting the deceptive tactics of some. The House Judiciary Committee stated, "Brokers have targeted individuals with deceptive advertisements and pressured enrollees to lie about their incomes to obtain Obamacare subsidies. Evidence suggests that many individuals do not even know they are signing up for health insurance or agreeing to switch plans.”
We spend nearly $100 billion annually on these subsidies, so we are not talking peanuts here. The problem is that insurance brokers are paid commissions based on the subsidies paid out by the government to the insurance providers, so the system invites fraud.
Seto Bagdoyan, the director of audit services for the GAO, explained, "The unscrupulous ones will probably go out and run up the score like we think we are encountering through our analysis. [Fraud examples] include not only changes to the agent or broker of record, but also changes to the policies, new policies, and outright fraudulent policies. So that is part and parcel of the broken side.”
I am not naïve enough to think that the GOP can figure out a fix over the next three weeks, nor do I want to see my fellow Americans get clobbered with higher premiums, so the unfortunate course of action is to pass a one-year extension of the current subsidies, then immediately go to work auditing the system to eliminate the waste and fraud.
Sen. Masto seems to finally be on the same page, stating, “I can tell you this: The simple thing to do right now, if they really want to address this issue [of premium costs], is just do a clean extension.”
She then added, "We’re willing to talk reforms. Capping the income at the high level, we’re talking about what we can do to address the waste, fraud, and abuse they have concerns with. We have concerns with it. There are reforms that we can discuss and actually move forward on.”
So, consider this option. Immediately remove the extended benefits that were put into play in 2021 when Biden passed the American Rescue Plan Act. Then pass a clean one-year extension. As soon as that takes effect, start the reform discussions and audit the entire system. This would also include reforming healthcare insurance companies, which are just crushing customers right now. Do that, and I guarantee you that we will trim tens of billions from Obamacare instead of adding costs to it each year. And, we would lower the overall costs of healthcare for the American people. It's a small hit now for a massive payoff in the future.
