House Republicans are planning legislation next week to get some closeted information from the Obama Administration regarding Obamacare. The legislation, called the Exchange Information Disclosure Act, H.R. 3362, would require the Obama administration to release weekly reports stating how many unique website visitors used the HealthCare.gov website, how many new accounts were started, and how many enrollees there were in a qualified health plan, along with the level of their coverage. The legislation would also force the Administration to give a weekly update on how the fixes to the website were doing. These reports would continue through March 2015.
Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) sponsored the bill in the House; Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) sponsored a Senate version of the bill. Alexander said, “With Wikileaks and Edward Snowden spilling our beans every day, what’s happening on the Obamacare exchanges is the only secret left in Washington. The National Security Administration should learn some lessons from Secretary Sebelius.”
Another issue addressed by the bill would be the concern that some ObamaCare navigators have been encouraging people to lie about their income or other personal information so they can find the cheapest insurance plan. The bill requires the government to reveal who their healthcare navigators are, including their contact information and which organizations and subcontractors they work with.
The bill would force the government to reveal where enrollees were by zip code, which could enable GOP members to ascertain how many young, healthy people are signing up, as ObamaCare depends on that demographic to support the aging, health-risk population.
House GOP leaders will consider Terry’s bill on Friday; that day members will consider another bill requiring HHS to inform prospective customers of ObamaCare when the personal information they have given the HealthCare.gov website has been compromised.