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Press Release Published: Nov 21, 2014

ObamaCare Architect Gruber, CMS Administrator Tavenner Called to Testify about Health Law Deceptions

Admin. Admits Inflating ObamaCare Numbers by 400K After Committee Discovers Deception

WASHINGTON – Last night, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., sent letters calling on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner and ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber to testify on Tuesday, December 9th before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on repeated transparency failures and outright deceptions surrounding ObamaCare.

“From the outset, the health law has been the poster child for this Administration’s broken transparency promises,” Chairman Issa said in a statement. “Americans were told if they liked their plans and doctors, they could keep them. They were told the individual mandate wasn’t a tax. None of these were true. Jonathan Gruber, one of ObamaCare’s chief architects, publicly lauded the ‘lack of transparency’ that was necessary to pass the law and credited ‘the stupidity of the American voter’ that allowed the Administration to mislead the public. CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner testified before our Committee that the Administration met its goals by enrolling 7.3 million individuals, however we now know that wasn’t the case. The numbers provided by CMS were deceptive and obscured the number of Americans running from exchange plans. The American people deserve honesty, transparency and respect from those who forced the federal government into their healthcare. I expect Mr. Gruber and Administrator Tavenner to testify publicly next month about the arrogance and deceptions surrounding the passage and implementation of ObamaCare.”

Yesterday, the Oversight Committee explained how the Administration exaggerated ObamaCare’s September enrollment figures, obscuring the fact that more than one million individuals dropped out since May 2014. Adding dental plans allowed the Administration to tout an enrollment total inflated by 400,000 and created the false impression that it had surpassed its goal of 7 million. Only after the Committee’s finding became public did CMS Administrator Tavenner confirm the discrepancy calling it a “mistake.”

Click here to read the letter to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.

Click here to read the letter to Jonathan Gruber.