{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/releases?ContentRecord_id=9c6fe64e-1284-495c-a734-497716ab95e5", "Hatch Statement At Finance Committee Hearing Examining Challenges With Obamacare Exchanges", "2013-11-06", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "UT", "Orrin Hatch", "H000338", "www.hatch.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, delivered the following opening statement at a committee hearing examining the challenges of the health law\u2019s insurance exchanges with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius:\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s been nearly six months since you last appeared before the committee.\u00a0 Given all that\u2019s gone on in that time \u2013 particularly with the implementation of Obamacare \u2013 I\u2019d say that today\u2019s appearance is long past due.\u00a0 \r\nWhen you were here way back in April, you assured us that that the implementation was on track, that it was all going smoothly, and that the exchanges would be ready to go live on October 1st.\u00a0 \r\nNow, it appears that your statements from the previous hearing were, at best, misinformed.\u00a0 \r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 From where I sit, things do not seem to be going smoothly at all.\u00a0 In fact, I think we would all agree that thus far, the implementation of the so-called Affordable Care Act has been an absolute debacle.\u00a0 You admitted as much last week when you testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee when you said \"hold me accountable for the debacle, I\u2019m responsible.\u201d \r\nMadame Secretary, while I am glad that you are accepting responsibility for this disastrous rollout, I would have preferred that you and the rest of the administration were honest with us to begin with.\u00a0 \r\nPerhaps in April you really did believe that things were on track.\u00a0 But, you had to have had several indications before October 1st that there were problems with the website and with the exchanges \r\nIt is simply inexcusable that the members of this committee were not told earlier that these problems were occurring.\u00a0 \r\nAnd, it wasn\u2019t for want of asking.\r\nI personally sent you a number of letters asking for details on the implementation of the health care law, many of which were ignored entirely.\u00a0 This cavalier attitude toward a Senate committee with oversight jurisdiction over your agency is, put simply, appalling and needs to be rectified.\u00a0 \r\nIf the past month has been any indication, there are likely to be numerous additional problems ahead.\u00a0 That being the case, I think it is only proper that you provide this committee with more regular updates on the issues you are dealing with.\u00a0 \r\nIn fact, I would ask that you come here once a month for the next six months to provide the committee with status updates on the implementation of Obamacare.\u00a0 I hope you will agree to do so.\u00a0 \r\nLike I said, Madame Secretary, it\u2019s clear that the problems you\u2019ve encountered thus far were not unforeseen.\u00a0\u00a0  \u00a0\r\nTwo separate reports \u2013 one from the Government Accountability Office in June and another from Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General in August \u2013 identified significant implementation challenges months ahead of the October 1st deadline.\u00a0 Yet, there is no indication that the warnings from these two independent, non-partisan government watchdogs were heeded by the administration or that any thought was given to delaying the startup date as a result.\r\nWhen you were here in April, I raised concerns about whether adequate testing was occurring to ensure that privacy controls were in place for the exchanges.\u00a0 In fact, I specifically asked you about having an independent entity review the entire system before it went live to ensure that all appropriate privacy and security controls were in place.\u00a0 You assured me that all testing protocols were being followed and that privacy issues were a high priority.\u00a0 \r\nHowever, we now know that no end-to-end testing of the system occurred before the system went live. \r\nNone.\u00a0 \r\nIn fact, key CMS officials knew on September 27th that there was a high security risk to the system if it went up as planned.\u00a0 \r\nMy colleagues and I have sent several letters since the spring asking for more information on what privacy controls were being instituted as part of the exchange infrastructure and asking for details about whether or not testing was being done to address the privacy and security concerns we have raised.\u00a0 \r\nTo date, we have not received any answers to our questions.\r\nSo not only can millions of Americans not login to the website successfully, but those who have actually succeeded could now find themselves at the mercy of identity thieves across the globe.\u00a0 I would call this a less than ideal situation for our constituents. \r\nThat brings us to another set of issues that I hope you\u2019ll be able to shed some light on today.\r\nLet me start with a simple premise \u2013 words matter.\u00a0 \r\nWe have all heard the golden saying \u2013 honesty is the best policy. \r\nUnfortunately this age-old wisdom doesn\u2019t seem to apply to the Obamacare pledges. \r\nMore and more promises made at the time this law was passed are now crumbling under the weight of reality on a daily basis. Let\u2019s start with the famous pledge that health reform would reduce costs by $2500 for an average family. \r\nThe truth is, with all the new mandates going into effect, the cost of health insurance in this country is projected to rise at a remarkable rate.\u00a0 \r\nSome studies \u2013 including one from the Manhattan Institute \u2013 estimate that individual market premiums will increase by as much as 99 percent for men and 62 percent for women nationwide.\u00a0 \r\nThen, of course, there was President Obama\u2019s promise when the law was passed that \u201cif you like your healthcare plan you can keep it\u201d and that \u201cif you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor.\u201d\u00a0 \r\nThis, to put it bluntly, is simply untrue.\u00a0 \r\nIn fact, the Washington Post, on October 30th, gave it Four Pinocchio\u2019s, which represents the highest level of untruthfulness. \r\nYou really have to try to get Four Pinocchio\u2019s. You don\u2019t simply get it for making a misstatement.\r\nYet, it wasn\u2019t until the last few weeks that people in the administration and at the White House started trying to rewrite what the President said.\u00a0 \r\nAnd let\u2019s be candid - it wasn\u2019t a newfound honest streak that changed the administration\u2019s tone \u2013 it was the fact that Americans started receiving cancellation notices from their insurers.\u00a0 According to the Associated Press, 3.5 million people have received such notices thus far.\u00a0 And, the same fate is certain to befall millions more before all is said and done.\u00a0 \r\nPut simply, there is a long track record of broken promises and untruthful answers to both this committee and the American people with respect to how this law would work and the impact it would have.\u00a0 \r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I hope that will stop today.\u00a0 \r\nNo more caveats. \r\nNo more excuses.\r\nNo more spin.\u00a0 \r\nJust give us the truth.\u00a0 \r\nAnswers like we don\u2019t know and we were wrong are perfectly acceptable, so long as that is the truth.\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you, once again, Mr. Chairman for holding this hearing.\u00a0 As you can see, we have a lot to discuss.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/releases?ContentRecord_id=9c6fe64e-1284-495c-a734-497716ab95e5"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.064587151631713, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}