House Demands Transparency for Health Care Law Exchanges

WASHINGTON, DC – The House of Representatives today passed H.R. 3362, the Health Exchange Information Disclosure Act, legislation introduced by Energy and Commerce Committee member Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE), to require weekly updates from the administration on the enrollment details and functionality of the health law’s exchanges. H.R. 3362 was approved by a bipartisan vote of 259-154.

Energy and Commerce Committee Leaders Voice Support

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Full Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI): “Remember this is the administration that knew millions of Americans would receive cancellation notices, but they only acted to allow people to keep their health care plans that they had and liked after we forced their hand back a few months ago. Perhaps by acting today we can again force them to do the right thing and share basic information with policy makers and the public about how the law is working or not.”

Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE): “This should be easy. But what we’re talking about here today is basic transparency so we all have the data to assess what’s working and what’s not. This bill is a mechanism for accountability so we can get the answers that both Democrats and Republicans and state insurance commissioners and Governors need to know in order to understand what’s working and what’s not.”

Full Committee Vice Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): "None of the information being shared by the administration regarding enrollment means much of anything. We talk about people that enrolled, but we don't know how many people have paid and how many people have completed that process. What are the demographics of the individuals that are enrolling? All of this is information that the individual that is paying for this, the American taxpayer, deserves to know. Who has paid for this insurance?"

Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA): “Why would we not want to provide transparency? If the federal government is going to do a massive, bureaucratic regime involving the American people, why should we not at least require them to be accountable for the success or failure of that regime? The Exchange Information Disclosure Act requires accountability and transparency, which has been, frankly, elusive from the administration on these issues.”

Health Subcommittee Chairman Joe Pitts (R-PA): “The American people have a right to firm data and an accurate picture of the exchanges.”

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