[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 4, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3426-S3428]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROBERTS:
  S. 2430. A bill to establish the Office of the Special Inspector 
General for Monitoring the Affordable Care Act, and for other purposes; 
to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, I first congratulate my colleague Senator 
Isakson for doing a good job of summarizing exactly where we are and 
the problems we are experiencing with the complexity of the Affordable 
Care Act and the hope that the new Secretary will be responsive, as the 
Senator so eloquently pointed out when he questioned her when she came 
before the committee. I thank the Senator for making an excellent 
speech and making excellent points, and I will endeavor to do the same, 
as we are talking about the same subject.
  My remarks are once again on the Affordable Care Act. I know we have 
other issues, many important issues--the Veterans' Administration, the 
release of terrorists in an exchange--but it is equally important we 
continue to shed light on the many failings of this law.
  During the very first debate on the Affordable Care Act, I distinctly 
remember comparing this rush to government health care as akin to 
riding hell-for-leather into a box canyon to find the only alternative 
would be to turn around, ride back out, and get on a more realistic, 
market-oriented health reform trail.
  Then I put it another way. I said: There are a lot of cactuses out 
there. We didn't have to sit on every one of them.
  We never even saw the bill before we voted on it. I think everybody 
understands that. I voted no and so did every Republican Senator and 
Member of Congress. This was not a bipartisan effort.
  I regret to say to my colleagues that I told you so, and here we are 
in a box canyon. Until the administration provides us more details to 
the contrary, we have to assume that more Americans are losing the care 
they liked,

[[Page S3427]]

through cancellation notices, than they have enrolled in the exchanges. 
They are in a box canyon.
  It is now estimated that ObamaCare will cost the Nation nearly $2 
trillion and has created higher premiums, higher taxes, less choice, 
confusion, delays, and problem after problem. Unfortunately, the 
President and his allies in the Congress continue to protect this law, 
despite its toll on our economy, our patients, and our providers.
  The President promised, as we all remember: We'll lower premiums for 
a typical family by $2,500 per year.
  Valerie from Wichita, KS, wrote me a letter to share her story on 
this broken promise. She writes:

       I wanted to let you know that I had to drop my company 
     health insurance due to the Affordable Care Act. My premium 
     before the Act was $250 a month and my employer paid $100 a 
     month toward the premium.
       My insurance year expired April 1st and the new year is 
     under the ACA health insurance. The new plan is now much 
     higher at $565 a month and my employer can only afford to 
     pitch in $150 a month. I had to drop my plan due to 
     unaffordability. I could not pay the $415 a month.

  The President also promised, highly publicized: ``If you like your 
health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, 
period,'' and, ``If you like your doctor, you'll be able to keep your 
doctor.''
  This law has significantly disrupted the individual health insurance 
market by imposing mandates and causing at least 5 million Americans to 
lose the insurance they had or have.
  Doug, also from Wichita, wrote to share his personal story on this 
one. He said:

       I am a small business owner who just got my family's health 
     insurance cancelled. I have talked it through with [the 
     insurance company] and at a minimum I will be paying 63% more 
     per month for coverage that has a deductible 3 times greater 
     than what I had and my doctor may or may not be in the 
     network.

  Doug continues on to say:

       The only topic that matters in Washington is stopping the 
     insanity of [ObamaCare].

  Most important, the President promised, ``I will protect Medicare.'' 
This law cuts over $700 billion from Medicare to pay for ObamaCare. 
Part of those cuts come from the establishment, the establishment of an 
Independent Payment Advisory Board--what a wonderful acronym for this 
board--IPAB. This Board is supposed to be made up of 15 unelected 
bureaucrats who will decide which treatments in Medicare coverage 
should be taken away with regard to reimbursement. As I have stated on 
the Senate floor before, the IPAB has no accountability and their 
decisions are practically impossible to overturn.
  The administration continues to give us piecemeal data on exchange 
enrollments, delays provisions of the law that they can't implement on 
time or simply wants to delay--a large serving of politics involved--
and is providing exclusive waivers and special deals to unions and 
others from the yoke of ObamaCare.
  In fact, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service confirmed 
that the administration has missed half of the mandated deadlines of 
this law. Most recently, press reports have indicated the government 
may be paying incorrect subsidies to more than 1 million Americans for 
their health care plans in the new Federal insurance exchanges, and 
they have so far been unable to fix the errors. Obviously, this poses a 
lot of problems for a lot of people.
  Unfortunately, the President and his allies in Congress continue to 
protect this law despite its toll on our economy, patients, and 
providers.
  A new Health and Human Services Secretary has been nominated, Sylvia 
Mathews Burwell, as Senator Isakson referred to, but with ObamaCare, 
nothing will alter. We are headed for socialized medicine. ObamaCare is 
the President's legacy. The President will unilaterally change what 
suits him best.
  The hard-working taxpayers who are paying for this law, in large part 
from the 21 tax increases contained in it, have a right to some 
answers. That is right, I said 21 tax increases. Just some of these 
taxes include the following: the individual mandate tax, where people 
have to pay the government for not having insurance, even if they can't 
afford it; the employer mandate tax, where an employer pays a tax 
because they may have chosen to forgo providing insurance to their 
employees instead of having to lay off workers; the health insurance 
tax, which will be passed along to individuals in the form of higher 
premiums; the medical device tax.

  I could go on and on. Many of these taxes have bipartisan support to 
be repealed, but we can't even get a vote on those.
  With a $1.8 trillion pricetag, this bill is so far-reaching it is 
difficult to find a Federal agency that doesn't have a hand in this 
pot; from your doctor's office to your wallet, to your privacy. That is 
why I am introducing today a bill to require a special inspector 
general for monitoring the Affordable Care Act. We call it the SIGMA 
Act. It is the Special Inspector General for Monitoring the Affordable 
Health Care Act.
  While all of the Federal agencies charged with implementing the 
Affordable Care Act have Offices of the Inspector General--and they do, 
they are all investigating this law in their own silo--where have we 
heard that before with a lot of problems within the Federal 
Government--the Health and Human Services inspector general isn't 
talking to the Treasury IG or the Department of Labor IG or the 
Homeland Security IG or any one of those with each other.
  This bill would give appropriate authority to investigate and to 
audit any programs or activities related to this law across the many 
Federal departments, State exchanges, and private contractors.
  The legislation will require a report to be submitted to Congress and 
the American people 6 months after enactment and quarterly reports for 
the duration of time the Affordable Care Act is on the books. They have 
broad authority to review all aspects of the law. Things such as the 
following:
  Changes in the health insurance marketplace, the amount of folks who 
have seen their premiums and out-of-pocket costs increased, shrinking 
physician and other provider networks. We have a right to know that.
  The employer mandate, its effect on worker hours, employers' hiring, 
and the number of businesses subjected to the penalty. We have a right 
to know that.
  The healthcare.gov Web site, its security, functionality, and 
verification systems. We have read a lot about that, but we have a 
right to know.
  Duties of the Internal Revenue Service, plans for calculating subsidy 
overpayments and underpayments, how they will notify these individuals 
and what their plans are for recapturing these overpayments.
  Medicare cuts via the IPAB, they will provide an analysis of the 
impact on medical outcomes for our seniors as a result of these cuts. 
We should know that.
  All of these questions could and should be answered by a special 
inspector general. The bill would equip the special IG with the same 
investigative and law enforcement authority as standing inspectors 
general, including subpoena and audit powers to compel responses from 
the administration.
  President Obama has claimed that his--his--is ``the most transparent 
administration in history'' and that his administration is committed to 
creating an unprecedented level of openness in government. Given these 
statements, I think the President should embrace the idea of a special 
inspector general for his health care law. After all, we need to know 
the outcomes of the 41 changes he has already made to the law.
  It would provide increased transparency so the general public has a 
better understanding about this law. It would protect taxpayer dollars, 
and by providing an independent analysis of this law, it will allow the 
administration and Congress to make more informed decisions and work 
together on how we move forward with reforms to our health care 
system. I believe we need to do everything possible to repeal and 
replace this law with real health care reform--reforms that lower costs 
and restore the all-important relationship between a patient and a 
doctor.

  However, as long as this law is on the books, we need a watchdog or a 
special inspector general to investigate the implementation of this law 
and ensure that our scarce taxpayer dollars are being spent in an 
appropriate manner. I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in 
support of this bill in calling for

[[Page S3428]]

increased oversight of the affordable--or unaffordable--health care 
law.
  Let's ride out of the box canyon. Let's get on a better health care 
reform trail, and on the way we certainly don't have to sit on every 
cactus that comes along.
                                 ______