Long Backs Effort to Require Administration to Provide Public Reports on State of HealthCare.Gov

Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Billy Long today voted in support of the Exchange Information Disclosure Act, legislation that requires the administration to provide the public with weekly reports on the status of the health care website.

"My House colleagues and I continue to support efforts to dismantle the president's health care law and to enact patient-centered health care reform which is fiscally responsible and sustainable. While we work to rescue Americans from a law which is still not ready for prime time, I believe it is critically important for the administration to provide the public with detailed weekly reports about the status of the health care law. For an administration that claims it values transparency this is a common sense piece of legislation that promotes transparency," Long said.

The Exchange Information Disclosure Act requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide weekly reports on the health care exchanges and enrollment figures. The American people have the right to know how many people have actually paid for plans, and the demographics of the people enrolling. Last September HHS Secretary Sebelius defined success for the law if 7 million enrolled by the end of March 2014. Recently the administration has backed away from this standard of success, raising questions about what success looks like and whether the law will be able to meet that standard. The legislation also requires regular reporting of technical issues impacting the health care law's website and efforts to fix the issues.

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