WASHINGTON – Congressman Tim Griffin (AR-02) issued the following statement after questioning Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), on the problems Americans are experiencing with the Obama Administration’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare:
“Because of Obamacare, folks around the country and in Arkansas are losing insurance plans they would have liked to keep, and some are facing premiums that have doubled, tripled or worse. As the disastrous rollout of this harmful law and its broken website makes clear, this isn’t the way to expand access, guarantee coverage and lower costs – which is why I’m going to keep fighting for real, patient-centered reform that protects those with pre-existing conditions, ensures affordability and improves the quality of care.”
In today’s Ways and Means Committee hearing, Rep. Griffin read a comment he received from an Arkansas state employee in Little Rock who forwarded a copy of the Employee Benefits Division’s newsletter “The Buzz.”
“Our insurance covers less and costs more,” the employee wrote to Rep. Griffin. “It [‘The Buzz’] says, ‘These changes were made to more closely align the plans with the Affordable Care Act,’ and in another sentence, ‘Because of this, the value of the plans were lowered to be more in line with the law.’ I am quite disgusted. Just [because] the federal government is starting a health insurance market place doesn’t mean that my coverage needs to change, but it has, and it has changed for the worse.”
Rep. Griffin is a cosponsor of The American Health Care Reform Act (H.R. 3121), which would repeal and replace Obamacare.
