The head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services refused today to provide data on federal exchange plan enrollment activity until mid-November.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today at a House hearing on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchange implementation that the department has no good enrollment data.
"The system isn't functioning, so we're not getting that data," Sebelius told Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., at the House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing.
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Terry and Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, said they'd heard reports that many of the participating carriers in the exchanges run by HHS have application and enrollment data.
Terry and Burgess asked Sebelius to give carriers permission to release their own exchange data. Sebelius said that getting reliable data is a priority, but HHS can't allow the release of enrollment data until its reliable.
"I don't want to turn over anything that's not confirmed and reliable," Sebelius said.
Burgess asked Sebelius for data on applications submitted through the telephone or through paper applications. Sebelius said HHS can't provide that either because they all go through the same system.
Burgess also asked Sebelius to call for the resignation of Gary Cohen, the director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. Cohen testified at House hearings, including a Sept. 30 House Energy subcommittee hearing, that he thought the exchange might start a little slowly but would be ready Oct. 1.
"He's repeatedly come before this committee and misled us," Burgess said.
"I will not," Sebelius replied.
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Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.
