Report Found Billions Doled Out With No Confirmation for Accuracy
WASHINGTON - Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today sent a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator Andrew Slavitt raising a number questions about how the agency issues the Advanced Premium Tax Credit (APTC) to insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The letter follows a Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) report that found the agency's internal controls could not effectively ensure the accuracy of nearly $2.8 billion in payments made to insurance companies under the health law.
"If these types of results continue it foreshadows a substantial programmatic vulnerability leading to untold billions in fraud, waste and abuse. We have been concerned about vulnerabilities related to internal controls at CMS due to the ACA - this is yet another in a long line of problems which have occurred since the ACA's initial implementation," the Chairmen wrote.
The full text of the letter is below and a signed copy is available here.
