DeGette Debunks Republican Analysis of ACA Enrollment Information

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-01) led a Congressional hearing on the status of the Affordable Care Act's implementation as the Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. In her opening statement, DeGette debunked analysis compiled by House Republicans following a questionnaire of the nation's largest health care companies.

"In their quest for knowledge, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, sent out a questionnaire to insurers that manipulated the payment deadlines to skew the understanding of how new insurance coverage is performing," said Rep. DeGette.

Rep. DeGette highlighted that, of the eight million people who enrolled in the federal and state health insurance marketplaces, three million waited until the last month of enrollment.

"I wish we could sit down with the Affordable Care Act, figure out what the flaws are, and figure out how we can work in a bipartisan way to fix it. Instead what we get is a misleading analysis, which said only 67% of enrollees paid for the coverage they enrolled in on the exchanges. How does that happen? They cut off the responses on April 15, at least two weeks before many of the premiums of these three million people were even due for payment. The report was misleading because almost half of enrollees in the health care exchanges did not even have to make their initial premium payment until April 30."

Click here to watch Rep. DeGette's opening statement.

Rep. DeGette also pointed to a recent poll conducted by Gallup that indicates in the last six months, the percentage of adults without insurance has dropped by about 20%.

"What that means is there are more than eleven million Americans with insurance today than there were six months ago. Premiums are below the levels predicted by the Congressional Budget Office, and the agency has once again has reiterated that the Affordable Care Act has slowed inflation, saved billions of dollars, and will even reduce deficits.

"By any rational, reasonable measure, we can call this law a success. That success will make a real difference in people's lives. That is what is important here. My suggestion is let's look at the successes, let's look where we need to make improvements, and let's work together to do just that."

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