[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 149 (Wednesday, October 23, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H6688]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          OBAMACARE EXCHANGES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Mrs. Ellmers) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. ELLMERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the failures 
taking place with the launch of the ObamaCare exchange through 
healthcare.gov. Since October 1, this Web site has been plagued with 
delays, errors, and fundamental flaws in the Web site design. This 
prompted USA Today to call it an ``inexcusable mess'' and 
``nightmare.'' In addition to the technological failure, the Web site 
leaves Americans open to exposure of privacy information. Buried in the 
source code of healthcare.gov, a paragraph reads:

       You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any 
     data stored on this information system. At any time, the 
     government may monitor, intercept, search, and seize any data 
     stored on this information system. Any data stored on this 
     information system may be disclosed or used for any lawful 
     government purpose.

  Consumer Reports states:

       It's not worth the hassle, at least not for now. Stay away 
     from healthcare.gov for at least another month if you can.

  This is not reassuring for Americans entering personal, medical, and 
financial information onto a government Web site, especially when 
Congress is still reviewing the IRS for gross mismanagement in 
collecting private individual information.
  John McAfee, founder of McAfee Antivirus, emphasized last Wednesday:

       Millions of Americans could have their identities stolen as 
     a result of signing up for ObamaCare.

  Despite these major malfunctions and structural defects, the 
administration still has penalties in place for individuals that don't 
obtain coverage.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not acceptable.
  Prior to October 1, my colleagues and I emphasized the inability of 
the Department of Health and Human Services to implement these 
exchanges. Therefore, if an individual does not wish to subject 
themselves to the risk of identity theft, they should be allowed to 
make that decision without the consequence of fines forced by the 
Federal Government. That is why I am working on legislation right now 
to ensure that Americans are not being punished for failing to buy a 
health care plan from a dysfunctional system.
  Additionally, Mr. Speaker, the Associated Press reported that, to 
date, only 476,000 people have enrolled. Mind you, that is 476,000 
Americans that are left open to identity theft. I would like to point 
out that this is out of 36 States enrolled in the Federally-Facilitated 
Marketplace--36 States. At one point, healthcare.gov posted error 
messages in at least 24 of those 36 States.
  Further, according to the USASpending.gov, over $600 million of 
taxpayer dollars have been spent setting up these failed exchanges. Mr. 
Speaker, this is an insult to the American taxpayers.
  CGI Group, one of the main contractors for healthcare.gov, reported 
that the site's design was changed about a month before its debut to 
prevent users from comparing prices without registering for an account. 
Why would the administration agree to remove the price comparison 
option when the President has promised the country affordable health 
care? It is because, for some, health care rates may become simply 
unaffordable.
  The administration announced they would provide a new ``shop and 
browse'' feature to the Web site. However, this new feature is not 
giving consumers the real price. In some cases, people could end up 
paying double what they see on the Web site. For example, CBS News ran 
the numbers for a 48-year-old woman in Charlotte, North Carolina, who 
is ineligible for subsidies. According to healthcare.gov, she would pay 
$231 a month, but the actual plan on the Blue Cross and Blue Shield 
North Carolina Web site costs $360 a month. This is more than a 50 
percent increase. The difference: Blue Cross and Blue Shield requests 
your birth date before providing more accurate estimates, further 
proving the point that monopolies are problematic as well, especially 
in North Carolina.
  Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent on a system 
that does not work. Therefore, there is one question we must all ask 
ourselves: Is the Affordable Care Act really affordable?

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