Reports

Key Document Based Highlights (documents and testimony in appendix): Tea Party “itching for a Constitutional challenge:” Lerner and her colleagues, after being under public pressure from President Obama and other Democrats, engaged in an e-mail exchange about how they could showcase their scrutiny of a Tea Party applicant for public disclosure, despite rules protecting the secrecy of unapproved applications.  The conversation turned to the possibility of a court ...

Key Findings: Insufficient authorization and guidelines. The monitoring was implemented with insufficient written authorization, no policy in place and no legal guidance given to the contractors conducting the monitoring. As a result, FDA captured communications that are protected by law, including communications with Congress, the media, and watchdog groups like Project on Government Oversight. Unlawful capturing ...

Key Findings: -          Non-cooperation of 450 police departments with federal background investigators – Federal law requires local law enforcement agencies to provide criminal history information to federal security clearance investigators.  But Federal law is vague on exactly what must be shared and many local law enforcement agencies frequently shun federal security clearance investigators, by providing only limited, if any, information.  New York ...

- IRS and Treasury officials expressed concern that there was no authority to interpret federal exchanges as an “Exchange established by the State,” as was necessary to expand the subsidies.

The three largest CO-OPs did not meet eligibility requirements. Three CO-OPs sponsored by Freelancers Union, which were established in New York, New Jersey and Oregon, did not meet eligibility requirements because Freelancers Union owns a for-profit insurance provider. The for-profit subsidiary has provided insurance to members since 2009 (p. 9-12).

Navigators Were Unprepared for Website Crash and Lacked a Contingency Plan: In a Committee briefing, Gary Cohen, a top HHS official admitted that Navigators lacked direction in the early days because “it took a while to know what was happening.” Also during the briefing, another HHS official, Mandy Cohen, stated that “it seems like in hindsight,” there should have been contingency plans for the website’s failure. HealthCare.gov “War Room” meeting notes, obtained by the Committee, ...

The report also highlights the significant risk for fraud and abuse in Obamacare's Navigator and Assister programs, which are intended to facilitate enrollment in health insurance exchanges. It also finds that top HHS officials expressed concerns about the risk of scam artists and identity thieves, but did not place eligibility requirements on Navigators and Assisters that would prevent them.

On September 16, 2013, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), as part of the ongoing investigation into the Benghazi terrorist attacks, released an interim report focused on the conclusions of the State Department Accountability Review Board (ARB). The ARB had placed blame on mid-level officials but did not examine the role of more senior officials involved in security decisions.  Relying on documents and testimony of State Department officials, the ...