Houston Chronicle - Lawmakers Press Federal Officials on Obamacare Performance

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By Connor Radnovich

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pressed top officials from the IRS and Department of Health and Human Services Wednesday for answers on how the Affordable Care Act will be improved as tax season and the second year of open enrollment approach.

Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, stressed that the seriously flawed implementation of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, has degraded public trust and mostly hurt the American people.

"The ACA has helped some Americans, no doubt," Brady said. "But it has hurt many more."

Brady and other lawmakers pushed IRS Commissioner John Koskinen for specifics on how people who signed up for healthcare through the exchanges and received subsidies will file taxes.

Koskinen said at the House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing that the majority of people who signed up will simply need to check a box on their tax form. But he added that some will not be able to use the form, and will have to fill out more paperwork.

In addition, he said that if people made more or less money during the year than they estimated on their healthcare application, their tax return may decrease or increase as it would normally. People are encouraged to return to the exchange during the year to update their information if there is a change in income or family status, but if left unchanged the differences would be caught in the final tax documents, he said.

Republican lawmakers on the subcommittee remained convinced that the law would make filing taxes more confusing for average Americans, and noted their Democratic colleagues may be starting to feel the same way.

Brady also repeatedly stressed that the IRS had lost the trust of the American people, not only because of the ACA implementation, but also by targeting organizations because of their politics.

"If they hear from us, it's because there was an issue with their tax return," not because of their politics, Koskinen said.

While both Republicans and Democrats remained concerned about Healthcare.gov, which had a deeply flawed launch last year, Democrats defended the law itself.

Andrew Slavitt, principal deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said there will be, and has been, testing of all the functionalities on the website so a similar debacle doesn't befall Heathcare.gov this November. Slavitt did caution that there will still be some issues to work through when the exchanges open.

Democrat Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey blasted Republicans for continuing to try to kill Obamacare despite the good things the law has done for many Americans. He said that now, instead of trying to defund the law, the GOP-controlled House is cutting the IRS's budget, which is down nearly 20 percent since 2010.

"If you can't shoot the dog, starve it," Pascrell said. "Starve it and it will go away. It will disappear. It will die."

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