Congressman Tom Price (GA-06), the top Republican member on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement today calling for Richard S. Foster, chief actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to testify before a public hearing. Rep. Price and fellow Republicans sent a letter to the committee’s chairman urging that a hearing be held in light of a recent analysis from Mr. Foster that determined health care spending under the newly enacted health care law would increase by at least $311 billion over just the next ten years.

“There is a large and growing credibility gap in Washington because so many of the Democrats’ claims about the stimulus package, tax increases, bailouts, and now ObamaCare have been discredited,” said Congressman Price. “While Democrats insisted the trillions of dollars spent under their plan for health care would actually save money and reduce the cost of care, their reliance on accounting and budgetary gimmicks rightly made much of the public skeptical. Common sense led most Americans not to believe the Democrats’ claims, and their skepticism has now been vindicated by this report from CMS.

“Mr. Foster’s use of words like ‘unrealistic’ and ‘unsustainable’ to describe ObamaCare should cause every American grave concern about the havoc this government takeover will inflict on our nation’s fiscal wellbeing. Congress has a duty to seek out the truth and let the public know how much this new law will really cost. I strongly urge Chairman Miller hold a hearing regarding the true costs of this new health care law and invite Mr. Foster to testify regarding the troubling predictions laid out in his recent report.