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Foxx: Congress Has a Responsibility to Protect Working Families From Obamacare's Fraud-Susceptible Subsidy 'Honor System'

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) today issued the following statement upon the passage of the No Subsidies Without Verification Act(H.R. 2775),  legislation that would require the Department of Health and Human Services’ Inspector General to verify the eligibility requirements of any person applying for Obamacare’s taxpayer-funded healthcare subsidies:

“Before any taxpayer-funded Obamacare subsidies are issued, the United States government must have an eligibility verification system in place. But sadly for working families, it appears the Obama Administration prefers the ‘honor system.’ This summer they announced essentially that the job of verifying eligibility before awarding applicants with taxpayer-funded Obamacare subsidies was too burdensome, so the American people would be left having to pay for a subsidy system susceptible to rampant fraud. This is not only inexcusable; it’s shameful.

“Congress has a responsibility to protect hardworking North Carolina families from such bureaucratic laziness. The No Subsidies Without Verification Act we passed today in the House will hold the Administration to an honest standard: Develop a verification process now, or stop the subsidy system.”

On Friday July 5^th, the Obama Administration released more than 600 pages of new rules and regulations to govern Obamacare. Within those pages was an announcement that the Department of Health and Human Services would no longer verify the eligibility of applicants for Obamacare’s taxpayer-funded exchange subsidies, instead opting to rely on a system of applicant self-verification – simply put, an “honor system.”

H.R. 2775, the No Subsidies Without Verification Act, prevents the Obama administration’s attempt to dodge responsibility for how taxpayer dollars are used by requiring that fact-based verification systems be put in place before Obamacare income-based subsidies are issued, a principle on which the Democrat Senate’s Appropriations Committee agrees.