Medical condition. That cant happen with coverage beginning january 1. The second way, for many people, it simply has been unaffordable because of their income level. For those people, there will be advanced premium tax credits that will go directly to the Insurance Companies to offset a portion of the premium and also a reduction in what they would have to pay an cost sharing in terms of deductible and copays that will pay directly to the Insurance Company to make coverage affordable. Mr. Johnson is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. , the Supreme Court stated very clearly americans have a choice. They can either by government approved Health Insurance or choose not to and instead pay a penalty. That choice is never mentioned in the application, is it . Application asked people whether they want to apply or want to get financial assistance. It never says they dont have to do it if they dont want to. It doesnt say they have to do it, either. It is just available to people who choose to come. That. Hink you need to the Website Health care. Gov does not alert americans that the Supreme Court has better says they have a choice. I dont think your website doesnt, either, does that . I am not aware. It would not surprise me. I do not think it tells people they have to, either, it offers opportunity for people inform individuals they do have a choice, that they dont have to take the insurance if they dont want . I think our goal is to get as Many Americans in Jordan Health congressman,e can, because they provide security for their families and helped that they become ill. How are americans going to be told they dont have to do that if they dont want to. I think there are folks telling them that. But i am not sure it is my job. It is your job. Last week, your employees who were part of the National Employees union sent a formal letter for Union Members to send in that they be exempted from exchanges. Why are your employees trying to exempt themselves from the very law you are tasked to enforce . I do want do not want to speak for them but i will offer a perspective as a federal employee myself and that the irs. We have right now as employees of the government of the irs Affordable Healthcare coverage. I think the aca was designed to provide an option or alternative for individuals that do not. All of us all else being equal, if you are an individual satisfied with your healthcare coverage you are probably in a better position to state that coverage then go through the change of moving into a different environment and going through that process. I think for a federal employee, i think more likely and i can speak for myself, either for desperate for to stay with the current policy than i am pleased with rather than go through a change if i dont need to go through the change. I am an individual that does not have Affordable Healthcare coverage or i am thanpy with my coverage the exchanges would offer a competitive alternative to look at, and my something might be something someone will want to pursue. Employees they would be please with their healthcare coverage and prefer to stay. A penalty for not taking government coverage . No, it is my understanding the individual mandate would only occur if they are not getting coverage at all, if they opt for no coverage. Then they would pay the mandate. I dont read it that way. Rfel and mr. The Obama Administration is saying if you work more than 30 hours a week she would have to provide health care or else get it through subsidy in the exchange. That is not through any longer through 2014, the employer will not have to offer coverage to the individual would have to go through the exchange and 2014 to get coverage. Many have already seen their businesses ares tried to comply with the 30 hour role. Care is not obama ready and it is the American People who bear the burden of you not being ready. For employers and their employees . Either one of you. I would just say, first of thatthat the requirement employers provide coverage under the Affordable Care act when it goes into effect only applies to larger employers. Which provide coverage to their workers today. So the impact of that provision is actually quite small. Smallerloyees employers are not subject before and they will not be next year. There is a lot of misunderstanding about what this provision is and who it impacts. I think i would stop there. I said earlier, i think july 17, a Treasury Department official appeared here and answered those questions that i think it is more important for me to focus on the administration of the provisions and how effective the irs can be administrating these issues. Thank you so much, mr. Chairman. Welcome to the battlefield. Is your mic on . Overconfident about the successes my last meeting as relating to the cost of Health Insurance in new york state, that it was far more favorable than what was perceived by our chairman. Can you share with me . Are my observations accurate question mark thats right. New york published rates that have been proposed to be in effect in 2014, and they are lower for most people than the. Ates that were in effect in this great country we have examples of states that really want to provide services for their citizens, that they are just as positive. Is that true . That is correct. It is abundantly clear this hearing is being called not to be of any assistance in this program being successful. I dont understand that concept. Legislativeh of my years i have never seen such artisan attacks on ideas, especially one that provides for healthcare for americans. Is our morale it responsibility and legal responsibility to enforce the law. Intend toat you to do. However, my speaker has made it clear that this particular con should not bes judged by our performance but rather we should concern ourselves with the number of laws that have been repealed. Do believe in the good intent of my republican answer theant you to question how can this committee heou to effectively do your job which you by law have to do if they tell you at this hearing that this position is not to help you but to the fund defund the resources you need to do the job. Is there inconsistent any question to ask how you are performing if what are they going to do is take the money will this committee in good faith be improving the law or trying to make certain that the law does not work . I would just said the president s 2014 budget request, 1. 5 billion for implementation of the Affordable Care act certainly could help us and we welcome the support. If indeed this ridiculous plan that is born dead except for political purposes were to succeed, then there would be no need for your appearance before this committee. Isnt that correct . Funding ofeal the it, you have no program. Thats true. That is the public stated goal of the majority of the republicans here, to not give you the resources. So, you coming here is just establishing a blueprint of a destructive plan that not only but concernsthcare the integrity of the United States ability to keep the government running. And the first step we are supposed to do this is to defend the healthcare of the citizens we have pledged to protect. I hope that soon mr. Chairman we will have the treasury here and other agencies that have it canions to seeing how be better understood how the majority contends to deplete the funding for healthcare and to stop the government from , and unfortunately not to have any plan to replace it. So, if this is the beginning shot of the war once we hear from the religious community, the Health Providers, the Business Community, that we will succeed. And i do hope that some of my republican friends will be that passing and improving laws is a heck of a lot better than destroying and repealing laws. At least in you your attempt to show you will do the best you can and this congress will do the best it can under president obama to provide healthcare for all american citizens. Thank you. Brady . My family worried if obama care is not ready for business, is a ready for their family, for their children, and their loved ones . There are a lot of lives at stake in healthcare. I think they see Warren Buffett gets a break from the white house on the employer mandate but a single mom of mine working in texas does not. January 1 and the they are forced to by government approved health care or pay a tax. And they are worried about it . I have to tell you, regrettably, to that the 2500 reduction in healthcare costs the president promised my constituents is nowhere to be found. Mr. Cohen, we heard from the head of medicare and Medicaid Services a few weeks ago. The testing is nearly done with the data and it is already ready almost ready to go. I want to ask about that. Have you successfully sent a pilot application to the Social Security administration, and have they successfully verified it back to you . We have begun testing with Social Security administration in may. The testing is continuing and it will be completed this month. You are saying you have not yet successfully sent i will have to get back to you on the details. How about with the department of homeland security, the application there. Business that is. My answer is the same for all of the agencies. We are engaged in testing now. It began a few months ago. It is continuing. And it will be completed this month. It is a really simple question have you sent a highland trial application out and received it that successfully and accurately . I understand your question. Get into deepto water it is not very technical. To the exchanges, they put into application thats pretty easy. And you say we got it checked out and it is working. I am sure we can get that answer for you, to your specific question. Isnt that your key job . Arent you in charge of having and exchanges ready to go . I am one of the people working on implementation, along. Ith a number of people at cms i just do not want to give you an answer that is not correct no, i appreciate that. Have you sent a trial application to this date to have the exchanges . Because that is really basic process. We are on the eve of the exchanges. You have sent it to the states my answer is the same. We have begun testing with the testing is ongoin it will be completed this month. The same is true with the helps issuers that are going to be participating. Is it safe to say at this point, the pilot application has not been sent successfully throughout the data hub system and returned accurately . I just want to be careful to give you Accurate Information so i would rather make sure i am giving you the right answer. Is a more yes, more no . I am afraid i just cannot say anymore than i have. Not veryjust reassuring for families on the eve of this i am not saying there is not an answer, but i am saying i will get it for you. It does not appear to be an answer. Wefel, this data hub is a hackers dream. I do not know what more i fear a hacker getting a hold of information on the way the government handled. You are short us that the irs, despite the significant abuse of power we are already investigating, that the irs has taxpayerred private information to other Government Agencies but i am looking at an email from 2008 where she did exactly that. Shes shared private taxpayer shouldtion she privatize their information to the federal election commission. One, how is she still on the table . , why did you tell us this did not happen . Three, why should we trust the irs to protect our taxpayer information under obamacare . So, let me respond to each of those. First, let me clarify, i never assured there are not incidences that occurred. We share information roughly with 300 different federal and state these as a matter of repealed the routine business. And we have procedures and safeguards in place to protect that information, but no procedure and safeguard is perfect and there are and have been historically incidences where unauthorized information has sir, that is not what you told us and the last appearance before the committee. My time is expired but i hope i can answer the question if you want to respond in writing we will make sure it is part of it. Mr. Mcdermott is a. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Welcome, generally. You are at war. This is not a hearing, this is a battle. It is a typical political battle where one side is throwing up dust and trying to confuse everybody all over the country about what is happening. This hearing is really the culmination of months of eclair full of a careful builder. Been crafting a scandal narrative to support toir truly relentless agenda repeal the Affordable Care act. For two months we heard nonstop complaints against the irs being corrupt and incompetent. Despite that, the only politically motivated act was the republicans request that the ig focus only on the treatment of conservative groups. Fulldid not ask for a study. They only ask for how did it affect their friends in the tea party. So, today we are going to discuss whether or not the irs and cms are capable and competent enough to see the law through. And my colleagues already have thrown dust and mud at the wall to see if it sticks. None of it does. What we will do tomorrow is the 40th fig leaf vote. Alltor cruz from texas these fig leaf vote for people have cover when they go home so people will not see them absolutely naked. The truth is about this congress , for 18 years this committee weird 16 ofctioning those years under the republicans. Taken a vote and his committee on the republicans on comprehensive reform. Their talk, nothing has ever been tabled in this committee. Now we table the billionaire and we pass it we table the bill here and we passed it out under Speaker Pelosi and they have been trying desperately for five years now to destroy it. And the question before us whether the irs is ready and able to collect your name, your family size, and income data to be used in the federal exchange help. Not health status. Anything not have about anybodys ingrown toenails in this report. Drug is no prescription history the irs is going to have. Or the Healthcare Providers name. Just the data they collect on their average database of putting on the tax system in this country. Name, how much you make, how many people in your family. As far as cms goes, they are ready. Exchanges, medicare expansions will be ready to go. Why state of washington, we are going to have 80 registered by the first of march. We are already ready to go. An aggressive Awareness Campaign all along the west coast. California, oregon, and washington. You watch, the rest of this dias is going to be looking insane, why cant we have that from wherever theyre from. My constituents seeing already an average of 500 per family in insurer rebate from parts of the already working to hold insurers accountable for how they spend the premium dollars they take in. This is not an investigation in pursuit of better government. It is a desperate 11th hour attempt to stop a law that will help americans. Part of me to believe that people who have made no proposals hard for me to believe that people that made no proposals are saying to people back home, dont dare sign up for this, this obamacare, it is going to be awful for you. To wind up i dont know how you run for office telling people that you dont want to. And the proposal that is on the table here today is straight out of the republican party. Mitt romney created it in massachusetts, and at least one campaign this dias nationally on this issue saying that they are now against romneycare, as it is put nationwide. I would like to hear what happens to the 50yearold or the person who has a 50 year, 50,000 a year income, when they go to the exchange, what will happen to them . Explain the process for people. You just have a few seconds remaining, so [laughter] i think a person with a be too muchit will income to be eligible for subsidies, so they can buy insurance through the marketplace or through the existing Health Care Marketplace outside the exchange. They will have all the choices that are available to them. This is a private Market Solution to a pressing social problem. All right, thank you. Mr. Ryan. I enjoyed alloying mr. Mcdormand mr. Mcdermott. I enjoy following mr. Mcdermott. I get the is the majority has a scandal narrative, throwing something at the wall to see if it picks. We had a gentle men from the National Organization of mayors come and testify how the irs leak their sensitive taxpayer situate information to their political opponents. We had a lady from a Prolife Group in iowa who told us how the irs said if you surrender your First Amendment right to weak your views, then maybe will approve your application. That is not a phony scandal. That is a real scandal. No matter what our colleagues tried tuesday to whisk this issue away, the government was intimidating people and targeting them based on their political views. That is not funny. That is real. I want to actually ask you a question and that of giving a speech for five quest a speech for five minutes and then asked a question with 10 seconds to go. Adult child,s an somebody under the age of 26 who has a terrible afford it loyer sponsored a level eligible to receive a tax credit in the exchange . No. Lets walk through a scenario. Take a young woman 25 years old living in milwaukee. And her mom and dad live in chicago. And they have employersponsored Health Insurance. She goes to the exchange because her job in milwaukee does not offer her Health Insurance. Pageets a three application for single people without employer coverage. The application said specifically single adults who are not offered Health Coverage. Om their employer no further questions about employer coverage. She signed up. She gets a subsidy. Could be thousands of dollars in subsidy. That she is not eligible for because her parents i may be wrong. I may be incorrect. The lawderstanding of is she is not eligible for a subsidy of her parents insurance covers this. You delayed the employer mandate, your data hub has no way of reconciling that record. So, she is going to get a subsidy she is not entitled to or eligible for. Take a husband and wife living in madison. The husband has been the person with the insurance for the family. But he is losing it because the company is not doing it anymore. Or he got his hours knocked out 30 or Something Like that. And her works at a job, employer does offer credible insurance but she did not take it because she has never before and it is just another year and she is not doing it. He goes and signs up for the exchange. He gets the subsidy. He gets obamacare. Buty are not eligible they are not eligible. You have no way of verifying that. What are you going to do . Are you going to make this ,erson pay it back, mr. Wefel because the law requires you to do so . If we are not going to reconcile until maybe 2016 so is it going to be two years of subsidies going to be but they are not eligible for . They do not get them fortunately, but through confusion. Does the law not require you to put a huge tax on their tax bill at the end of the day when you finally reconcile this data, so then they would get thousands of dollars of taxes clawing back the subsidy they were not eligible for . Is that not what you would have to do . First, the employer reported that is going to be very helpful in validating the data of coverage you are right, we one 850 get it until but there are other ways we can work with the employer community. It up andu have running when people start filling it out . We are working closely hhs and the exchanges are working with the Business Community to figure out solutions. This fall, when a 25yearold from the walkie signed up because she does not get Health Insurance for the job because that she is ineligible legally, when she applied for the subsidy because he did not know any better because the application does not say, you are going to catch that . If she is in the right income understanding is the change will reach out to the employers at that time. It will not be the of this a report that we will get in the Filing Season of 2016. Lets say her parents lived in texas and she is living in the walkie. This exchange is going to see all of this, well figure it out . Mandateyed the employer and you will reconcile the record and make sure she is not getting a subsidies she is not entitled to . The irs is working on solutions at the back and. Lets say you dont catch it. Withu not have to hit her a Tax Liability to clawback that subsidy that she did not get . Lets say you dont catch it and she gets a subsidy she is not supposed to get. You have to hit her with a tax to claw it back at the end of the day, correct . If we find that there is a problem, that she got a credit she should not have gotten, and we might be able to do it by working with the employer community, but there will be a cap. Depending on the income level and i can work through rotation for the individuals in those cases that we where we would cap the amount. I dont know why anybody who could get free insurance through their parentspolicy would choose instead to go on the marketplace and pay for insurance, and even if they get a subsidy. I guess we just have to hope, wont we . Has theairman, majority devised a way we can vote on this during the august break . If the gentleman would like us to. We could do proxy or internet voting i think the game plan is to get to the 40th i think rostenkowski was the last chairman to allow proxy voting. It seems to be working better than what we are experience in here. Mr. Cohen, as a followup to mr. Rangels questions about what we are witnessing in new york and other states. Do you care to expound and i will give you time to talk about the trendline we are witnessing . Report out a hhs put out a report recently that captured 10 states and the District Of Columbia that have made public the rates. That is a matter of state law and procedure that they make the rates public when they are filed. On average, they were 18 below what the Congressional Budget Office estimated premiums would be in the marketplace rather beginning in 2014. Cases, what our Analysis Shows they were affordable, particularly when you take into consideration the subsidies that people will be eligible for that will help pay for a portion of those premiums. What were seeing is in states where there is a relatively competitive market with a number of carriers that are offering coverage in the market, the marketplaces are offering new opportunity and new transparency and new competition that is having a very positive effect on rate. In addition, we have seen over all insurance costs and premiums going up at a much lower rate today than they have been in decades. That certainly has been the case in massachusetts. Despite some of the acrimony that has developed in terms of the overall argument. There has been a ability that settled in. You will read stories from time to time indicating that this has changed and that has changed but by and large the satisfaction rate in the state of massachusetts based on governor romneys plan, working incidentally with the Democratic Legislature that came to the conclusion that you could on a statebystate experiment stabilize healthcare costs. I cant emphasize enough that when you have almost three quarters of the people in the that regularly suggest they are satisfied with the plan, i think youve got a good model to build upon. I agree, thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I am a little concerned at mr. Werfels inability to answer mr. Ryan has a question. I will your i will yield to mr. Ryan. Not think you understand the law you are in charge of executing and enforcing. The clawback where you limit the amount of person days back, that is only a person who is eligible for a subsidy of their income changes in the year where the subsidy takes place. Is your person this law if a person gets a subsidy they are not eligible for which clearly would be the case if your major enforcement cool, the employer mandate, is not in place, the law requires you clawback 100 of that subsidy to which they were not entitled to. I apologize the hypothetical you gave have had a lot of moving pieces. Have, weestion i discovered that this individual got an inappropriate subsidy. Withde some connection their employer to learn that information. At theh would be 2015 earliest. Wicklow learned in 2015, a any we could learn it in 15, we get the official report 2016. To validate somebody gets two years of a subsidy they signed up for unknowingly that they got, which the law does not make them eligible for. You will have to tax it back in two years time to all of it . That is the law, correct . We will help the individual in the front and filling up the taxes and navigating through the exchange to understand whether they have an employerprovided plan. If you do not have an employer mandate and you do not have the tool in the data hub that you need to have to verify this, you are going to have a lot of people getting subsidies they are not supposed to get and then you will hit them in a big tax bill in two years to claw it back because the law requires you to mr. Nunes. Free money. You foresee any additional obama to provisions that might not be ready for implementation . No. Grant see any more granting any more waivers to thatyers or companies petition for additional time or waiver . No. Give any waivers to any companies, any unions. Isif what you mean by waiver telling someone that they are not required to follow the law that i am charged with implementing, the answer is no. Ok, thank you. , will the irs need to access American Healthcare records in order to inform enforce the Obamacare Tax question mark no. What records will they have to go after . There are two key things. An order to comply with the law we are providing taxpayer information through the hub to that isges income, filing status, household size. Factor we need to know is fact that covered. We need to get information about the policy itself. The policy number and insurer. Other than that, there is no other information. We do do a computation of what the advance premium cap tax credits. We did information where we are blind to who the individual is. We get it through the exchange information, like the plan they have chosen, the cost. So, that information that you are going to have, how many other Government Agencies at this time will you be sharing that information with . Tax records. I dont know. I will answer the question this way. We currently share taxpayer information with roughly 300 federal and state agencies under existing laws and regulations. Ithout the aca it will add an additional entity to receive information, in particular, the exchanges. Both the state and federal run exchanges. 300 different right now the baseline is 300 300 different federal and state agencies under existing law and regulations before the aca received taxpayer information from the irs. As i mentioned, there are a lot of safeguards in place. Now, the number will be expanded. I do not know the number at my finger takes but it is a band because the information is flowing through to both the federal and state exchanges. Agents havenew irs been higher today to implement obamacare . I can get you that information. Hundreds, thousands . If you give me a moment, i will get that information. I can get it to you before the end of the hearing. If you can get also how many you plan to hire . We will have estimates on that in the 2014 budget. I would say right now we are in a hiring freeze due to sequester and budget cuts, so there are challenges. I got for that. I yield back. Two tobecerra, and then one after that. Thank you for your testimony. Let me assure you something. At some point, we will start to ask you questions more and more bipartisanly on how to implement. But for now you are experiencing part of a strategy to undermine the ability for the health of security law to actually take effect. Last week in the article that mr. Levin introduced by mr. Norm ornstein, from the American Enterprise institute the unprecedented and contemptible attempts to sabotage obamacare. Let me just quote a couple of passages. Going on now to sabotage obama care is not treasonous, but just sharply beneath any reasonable standards of elected officials with the vision responsibility of to do Anything Possible to undercut implementation of the healthcare law, which in this case he means finding ways to deny coverage for many who lack any Health Insurance, to the millions who might be able to get better and cheaper coverage in the dark about the new options, to create disruption for the Health Providers trying to implement the law decibel all, to threaten even greater this truck thats disruption via Government Shutdown to blackmail the president to abandon the law and to hope to benefit lyrically from the resulting turmoil is simply unacceptable and even contemptible. That was written last week. People did not believe mr. Was writing e recently it was leaked out that this week our republican colleagues had a meeting where a strategy was introduced by the was ar where the strategy series of targeted strikes that will fracture the president obama Care Coalition and topple this law. So, they go through the strategy on how to do this and one of those is this hearing and the legislative proposal before us. I think at some point we will get to the nuts and bolts of administering the law. It is important. I had a gentleman right to me intomy escape back thousand nine when we were trying to pass the Health Security law. He wrote to me. Architectfemployed and play monthly to a very expensive bottom line height deductible policy. My wife and i uncovered but our son had a stroke when he was eight years old. He is not insurable. Our coverage cost 750 per month. This is very expensive, beyond what we can afford. And theyre only as emergency coverage. If we use the insurance it immediately jumps in price. 250 pertime it was a month increase in cost. If we incur another increase, we will have to drop the policy. Mr. Cohen, the law passed. His wife are not under the new law. Is his son now able to get Insurance Coverage . Thats right. The law toda Insurance Companies from denying erics son coverage because of his previous stroke. That little boy who cannot get coverage before the Health Security law today has coverage the way every other child with the same kind of preexisting condition will be able to get coverage. Let me ask you about another gem from mike to stick. Benjamin. He says our Insurance Company retroactively cancel my wifes coverage after they approve her to get an mri. She was stuck with a bill that took three years to pay off. They scoured her record to find any mistake they could call her on rather than a foot a bill for a procedure they had approved for her to undergo. I do not consider this insurance. It is more akin to gambling. Today, because of the rescission provision throughput of the law, is the Insurance Company able to deny benjamin and his wife payment for the mri that the Insurance Committee approved . They cant. That is a practice that some Insurance Companies engage them post claims underwriting. When someone has a claim they will go back to see if they can find a reason to take the policy away just because a person that sits and made a claim. They cannot do that anymore. This also heard that security law passed with a job killer. That was a big argument. My understanding you may not be aware of it, but close to a million jobs have been created in the Healthcare Industry since april of 2010 when we passed the law. Haser than kill jobs, it helped create more jobs because people are gearing up in the Healthcare Industry to help some of 30 million new americans actually have Health Insurance benjamin can have for their families. I hope at some point they will be able to actually do it to the nuts and bolts on how we make the law work better. There clearly are kinks. No one denies there are flaws in the law. Implementation has to go much better than the policy and the written word and the law. At some point, the fever will break in washington and we will get back to work your the way americans expect us to. And we will make this law work for everyone. Thank you for being here. Am i look forward to that. Thank you. Mr. T berry . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Let me assure my colleagues on the other side is the reason we have concern is we do not believe there are kinks, there are major problems. Let me read you a letter from a constituent i have never met. I am a student employee at Miami University in oxford working this summer in a University Research lab. Last week this was dated early this week last week i received a notice from University Staff informing week that due to recently change policy i no longer will be able to work alltime and i would have to stop working after reaching 28 hour limit per week. Of course, i was startled and upset and it was not long before i knew the culprit behind this change in policy was the Affordable Care act. Letters,ne of many phone calls, meetings, that i have had. Not kinks with the Affordable Care act. At theirman mentioned beginning that the president stated that the average family would see a 2500 reduction. I remember that. I heard a lot about that in my district in central ohio. Filings seen the rate for the plans being offered in the state of ohio . You have not yet . I have not, either. The people of my state have not. However, our Insurance Department is warning that individuals in our state could face an 88 premium increase from current plans in our state. Would that be a 2500 reduction . It would not. But most of those projections have proven to become legally erroneous. I dont know what they are looking at there. Erroneous, based on what . On whether you the type of coverage people will have beginning in 2014 and whatever coverage that they have today. Insurancet the Department Said is apples to apples if you have a plan today offered by blue cross and blue shield that is a standard plan, you will in the exchange see a standard plan that will go up about 80 . Wouldnt that be a way i have not seen those rates, so i cannot comment on that prediction. I would hope you would come back after october 1 when the information is public. Is that you want to ask is why these plans are going up, then we can ask you. On cmss marketplace training slideshow from this month entitled understanding the Health Insurance marketplace, it specifically note there are 10 Population Centers around the country, including ohio. Including columbus, where i am from. That you will have special enrollment as sisters assistors contracted to help uninsured young and healthy people. Your there quote. Could you tell me what the willal on roman assistors do and how they will be contracted and will pay for them the special enrollment assistors. We put out a bid for contract people to help with enrollment. We want to focus our efforts in areas where there are a large number of uninsured. Both books will be available to provide assistance. How are they different than navigators . The Navigator Program is a Grant Program and we solicited grants from communitybased organizations that will also be helping people assist in getting enrolled. It is a federal contract. They will be doing the same job title that different . They will be doing essentially the same work. But one is a Grant Program through locally based communities and the other is federal contract. Also on the website try to clear up this confusion. I found a reference to navigators, nonnavigator assistance personnel, in person assistor, special roman asterisk er am a consumer Assistance Program and certified application counselor. Do they have different roles . The roles are similar. Some of those the navigators, for example, will be doing i think more out of reach as well as helping people get enrolled. But the and roman asterisk assistors will help people with application. The funding is different. I know the folks on the other side of ill believe we have contempt for this, but there is a ton of confusion that comes from this website from our constituents who dont understand, i dont understand. I dont understand the difference between the different types of programs, how to fund it, are they agents, are they not . How familiar are they with healthcare law, healthcare services. I would hope and i am going to send you a letter to get some other clarifications. Just from your website, confusion that has already come to our office. My assumption is people do not really care very much what name or what Funding Source they are going to be looking for help for health Insurance Company best coverage and they will take that help enable be happy for it. I just wanted to sort of repeat what my colleague mr. T said, there isry a lot of confusion, and i think this hearing is a forum where we could get some of the answers, hopefully. We appreciate your attendance here. We do have some legitimate questions. Here and listening to some of the testimony and some of the exchanges, it is obvious to me that even you are confused about what the law says and what it does not say, what you have accomplished or have not accomplished or may accomplish or what some of your deadlines are. Your answers are not clear. I think everybody in the audience and people on the panel and people at home watching can see that. Werfel, i want to start out with just some questions that are yes or no. Have you been able to implement which increases taxes by limiting Health Savings account expenditures . I have to get back to you on that question. I think you have been. Have you been able to implement section9004, increasing taxes on distributions from has and m asas not used for qualifying medical expenses . Again, i will have to get back to you. I think that i think that is a yes. Section 9005, increasing taxes by limiting Health Flexible spending arrangements under cafeteria plans . , again, i will get you that information. I think that is a yes. Have you implemented 9007, additional requirements of charitable hospitals . I will get you the answer. It is a yes. 9008, increasing taxes on branded prescription mark pharmaceutical manufacturers and importers . I believe we have implemented that. , increases the medical device tax . Yes. Are you on track to implement section 9010, a tax on Health Insurance providers . To you onget back that question. We are generally on track with all of the major deliverables. 13 summer raising taxes on those who have to take an itemized deduction on medical expenses . , i believe we are on track. You are on track with all of these some of these you cannot answer but i have information that these are all yeses, that you completed implementing the tax laws. I am disappointed that the supposedly benefits of this law seen by myn constituents. I think that is the frustrating part. Not only frustrating, but confusing. I am not sure if they will ever be seen by my constituents. Thatd it sort of odd, too, employees at the irs, including yourself you feel like you have good Health Insurance and you would like to keep that Health Insurance. Employees. E irs so would a lot of other americans across the country. One of the benefits of this health law was supposedly that we could keep our Health Care Plan if we liked it or we could keep our doctor if we liked our doctor. But according to the president and i will paraphrase will something we heard him say in a conference he attended and spoke was there seems to be some language snuck into the healthcare law that runs contrary to that premise. Runs contrary to the premise of that you can keep your doctor if you would like. And it runs contrary to the premise that you can keep your Health Care Plan if you like it. Supposedly now have filed a waiver because they cant keep their Health Care Plan if they like it. They have to ask for a waiver. I know of a lot of americans who want to ask for a waiver. Its deeply disappointing that the only part of this bill you have been able to implement are the provisions that have cost americans and will cost americans in their pocketbook. En, i am really confused by your testimony about testing of data hub. You will get back to us on an answer . Is that what i heard you say question mark you are testing, right . What is the testing . I want to know what the testing is. The testing is all aspects of the system that will be needed to be operational october 1. What have you done . When you say testing, what do you mean . What have you done . I am a lay person. I am not an i. T. Person. I will get the lay persons answer. A test the systems to make sure they are functioning. Y run different scenarios you think youre on track . Less than two weeks ago insurers warned that both they and your department taste significant operational and logistical challenges in the first two years at a minimum which are dependent in large part on a variety of technical interfaces, data exchanges and program infrastructure. I think you are in trouble. I do not think you will meet your deadline. I will yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. It has come as quite a surprise this morning that of focus and purpose of this hearing is to determine whether the Affordable Health care act is on track. Because the people who are conducting the hearing him a when it comes to healthcare have been very zealous on the derailment program for healthcare. They have offered no constructive suggestions. Never how can we make Health Care Work better for the American People. It is always, how can we derail it. I am surprised, in fact, that they even have time to have a hearing between the repeal vote because we have had so many of them. Twoandahalf years ago in this very room, we had our first at the beginning of the last congress on the repeal of obamacare. And the house proceeded to repeal it. The next day, it passed a two page bill that contained 12 latitudes about health care. And that is the last time we heard about those platitudes in terms of any legislative action except for when the last year that provided tax breaks for tylenol. Offeredrnatives being to the American People to obamacare is really nothingcare when it comes to legislative action on this committee and on the floor of the house. There are many problems with the Affordable Health care act. Toish your efforts to try see it effectively implemented were not day after day being undermined and underfunded and interfered with. But tell us, if you would, mr. On october 1 because i never thought that their attacks were about denying the irs power or denying you power. They are about denying rights to the American People that they are now entitled to under the Affordable Health care act. On october 1, if you are among the millions of uninsured people do not have any way to get insurance right now, what rights do you have new and as an american citizen under this act . To submit ane able application either online or in person or over the phone or on paper. You will be able to determine whether you are eligible for a medicaid or chip or a subsidy in the form of advance payment of the tax payment on the other. You will be able to shop and choose a private Health Insurance plan that you want to enroll in. January,ning in payments you will have to make a premium payment. , that amount of that advance premium tax credit will go directly to the Insurance Company and help pay for that coverage. At a lowerre working wage job, you are entitled to a premium tax credit to assist you in getting Health Insurance that you have not been able to get up until now . That is right. A woman a while back any relay for life gathering, to me in tears because her sister had breast cancer. And when she went to get treatment, she learned she only had 25,000 of treatment to get radiation and chemotherapy to treat that condition, and they will not let her begin the treatment because it will cost her much more than that. What happens to a woman like that who was left as as a victim to the fine print put there by her Insurance Company that she knew nothing about as a typical insurance purchaser . What happens to her under the Affordable Care act that they want to derail . Those provisions are in effect even today and have been since september of 2010. Lifetime limits are no longer permitted. You cannot put a cap on the amount of money the insurance policy can pay over the course of a persons lifetime and annual limits have been phased out and beginning 2014 we will will also be completely eliminated so the Insurance Company can not say we were only pay only insert as a certain amount of money a year for a claim. Existcourse, rights that right now under this Affordable Healthcare and, the same Affordable Health care at that the latest things in the last few days has been whether they are willing to shut down the entire government, threaten the full faith and credit of the United States just because they are so zealous about derailing the Affordable Care act and denying rights to americans. Right now if you are a senior, do you get any rights that if we repeal the Affordable Health care act you would be denied that you get under the Affordable Health care act already . A number of rights under the Affordable Care act. Preventative services are provided free of any copay or any the testable. Just an example. So people can actually get that kind of Preventive Care they need to keep themselves help healthy. Prescription drugs, and the benefits that if we repeal the Affordable Health care act, seniors will be denied . The socalled doughnut hole was closed by the Affordable Care act, the millions of seniors have saved money as a result. And the solvency of medicare would be reduced also of that answer will have to be the end of it. Thank you. You can watch all of this. Earing at www. Cspan. Org the acting irs commissioner will be back on capitol hill this morning at testifying about Identity Theft and tax fraud. Live coverage from the House Oversight subcommittee on Government Operations begins at 9 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan2. This weekend on cspan, live coverage of the National GovernorsAssociations Annual summer meeting in milwaukee, wisconsin. Its year, the nations governors discussed National Infrastructure and the global economy. Sunday, live at noon on cspan2 the mobile tvs indepth ergo your questions for author and head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins ben carson. And on American History tv, 1960 eight. From the assassination of Martin Luther king, junior, and Robert Kennedy to the tet offensive. Sunday at 1 00. Washington journal begins in a moment. We will look at todays news and take a look at your phone calls, email, and tweets. The houses is in this morning and will finish a measure that aims to reduce government regulation. Watch live Health Coverage at 9 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Transcanada announced plans yesterday to build a new 2700 mile pipeline within canada. As the keystone xl project stalls in washington. In 45 minutes, we will talk with nebraska congressman about the proposed keystone pipeline. And then california congressman Tony Cardenas joined as to its best the budget negotiations and the prospects of the house passing and migration bill. Host and other several funds, federal spending proposals has reach an impasse, and i will be our discussion topic this morning on the washington journal. Later withk about it two members of congress. Here is the front page of the morning imes this rifts latecomer suspending impasse