Good
news, America. Three billion dollars of hard earned tax money you've been
sending to subsidize other people's healthcare plans 1) went to the wrong
people 2) was paid out in the wrong amounts.
An
Inspector General audit
of the Department of Health and Human Services revealed today that
Obamacare subsidies handled by the agency have been completely unorganized,
disfunctional and misplaced. Why? Because HHS never implemented a system to
ensure the subsides would be secure, distributed in the right amounts and sent
to those who are eligible to receive them. More from the Washington Free Beacon:
"[The Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services] CMS's internal controls did not effectively
ensure the accuracy of nearly $2.8 billion in aggregate financial assistance
payments made to insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act during the
first four months that these payments were made," the OIG said.
"CMS's system of internal controls could not ensure that CMS made correct financial assistance payments," they said.
The OIG reviewed subsidies paid to insurance companies between January and April 2014. The audit found that CMS did not have a process to "prevent or detect any possible substantial errors" in subsidy payments.
The OIG said the agency did not have a system to "ensure that financial assistance payments were made on behalf of confirmed enrollees and in the correct amounts."
In response to the audit, CMS said they issued a regulation to change their accounting methods.“CMS takes the stewardship of tax dollars seriously and implemented a series of payment and process controls to assist in making manual financial assistance payments accurately to issuers,” they said.
"CMS's system of internal controls could not ensure that CMS made correct financial assistance payments," they said.
The OIG reviewed subsidies paid to insurance companies between January and April 2014. The audit found that CMS did not have a process to "prevent or detect any possible substantial errors" in subsidy payments.
The OIG said the agency did not have a system to "ensure that financial assistance payments were made on behalf of confirmed enrollees and in the correct amounts."
In response to the audit, CMS said they issued a regulation to change their accounting methods.“CMS takes the stewardship of tax dollars seriously and implemented a series of payment and process controls to assist in making manual financial assistance payments accurately to issuers,” they said.
We determined that CMS’s
internal controls (i.e., processes put in place to prevent or detect any
possible substantial errors) for calculating and authorizing financial
assistance payments were not effective. Specifically, we found that CMS:
-relied on issuer attestations that
-did not ensure that advance CSR payment rates identified as outliers were appropriate,
-did not have systems in place to ensure that financial assistance payments were made on behalf of confirmed enrollees and in the correct amounts,
-did not have systems in place for State marketplaces to submit enrollee eligibility data for financial assistance payments, and
-did not always follow its guidance for calculating advance CSR payments and does not plan to perform a timely reconciliation of these payments.
The internal control deficiencies that we identified limited CMS’s ability to make accurate payments to QHP issuers. On the basis of our sample results, we concluded that CMS’s system of internal controls could not ensure that CMS made correct financial assistance payments during the period January through April 2014.
-relied on issuer attestations that
-did not ensure that advance CSR payment rates identified as outliers were appropriate,
-did not have systems in place to ensure that financial assistance payments were made on behalf of confirmed enrollees and in the correct amounts,
-did not have systems in place for State marketplaces to submit enrollee eligibility data for financial assistance payments, and
-did not always follow its guidance for calculating advance CSR payments and does not plan to perform a timely reconciliation of these payments.
The internal control deficiencies that we identified limited CMS’s ability to make accurate payments to QHP issuers. On the basis of our sample results, we concluded that CMS’s system of internal controls could not ensure that CMS made correct financial assistance payments during the period January through April 2014.
According
to the Inspector General, the audit was conducted "to determine whether
CMS’s internal controls were effective to ensure the accuracy of financial assistance
payments to QHP issuers made during the first 4 months that these payments were
made."
"Without
effective internal controls for ensuring that financial assistance payments are
calculated and applied correctly, a
significant amount (approximately $2.8 billion) of Federal funds are at risk (e.g.,
there is a risk that funds were authorized for payment to QHP issuers in the
incorrect amounts)," the report states. "Our review focused on the
effectiveness of CMS’s internal controls and, for the aforementioned reasons,
did not verify whether these Federal funds were accurately applied on behalf of
confirmed enrollees on an enrollee-by-enrollee basis."
Keep
in mind the federal government spent nearly $2 billion on the Obamacare website
and the total cost for the healthcare reform is gauged at $2 trillion.
Keep
working America.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2015/06/16/the-government-has-no-idea-where-3-billion-in-obamacare-subsidies-went-n2013393
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