Pallone, Green Demand Hearings on Open Enrollment Oversight

Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Gene Green (D-TX) sent a letter to Chairman Greg Walden (D-OR) and Health Subcommittee Chairman Michael Burgess today requesting immediate hearings to examine the Trump Administration's readiness for the upcoming Marketplace open enrollment season. The request follows startling news reports in the Washington Post detailing the Trump Administration's active efforts to suppress enrollment and undermine the insurance markets in an effort to score political points.

"Our Committee holds broad jurisdiction over the health care sector and as such has a leading role in examining the individual health insurance market," Pallone and Green wrote in their letter. "The Administration's conduct of open enrollment will have an undeniable and significant impact on the health and stability of the individual market, as well as premium costs borne by millions of Americans. Failure to examine the Administration's readiness for open enrollment is a failure to fulfill this Committee's responsibility to conduct effective oversight of the agencies within our jurisdiction."

In their letter, Pallone and Green express a series of concerns regarding the Trump Administration's seemingly blatant efforts to sabotage the upcoming Marketplace open enrollment including cutting funding for Navigators by 40 percent, slashing the advertising budget by 90 percent, barring regional Health and Human Services (HHS) offices from appearing at open enrollment events, shortening the open enrollment period to just 45 days, and scheduling Healthcare.gov to be offline for 12 hours a day nearly every Sunday. The members also raised concerns over reports earlier this summer regarding technical glitches affecting Healthcare.gov, which should require Committee oversight.

Under the Obama Administration, the Committee held countless hearings on the previous Administration's readiness for open enrollment and had over 100 witnesses testify before the Committee. In stark contrast, the Committee has yet to hold a single hearing on the upcoming open enrollment season, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma has yet to testify before the Committee, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price never appeared before the Committee during his nine month tenure in the Administration.

A copy of the letter is available here.

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