Dive Brief:
- Two congressional committee chairmen say they plan on issuing a subpoena to get the HHS to answer some questions about the funding of an ACA program available to all states, Modern Healthcare reported.
- Currently, two states are using the ACA's Basic Health Program, which gives states the ability to establish a program that provides health insurance to low-income residents and some legal immigrants as well as coverage continuity.
- The congressmen believe the program's funding has not been approved.
Dive Insight:
On Friday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton delivered a letter to HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell in which they asked for her agency to provide information on the Basic Health Program's funding for the past six months.
The congressmen said the program's funding has not received congressional approval, though two states have already implemented the program: Minnesota and New York.
“We remain deeply concerned about the administration's decision, and your agency's lack of cooperation with this important investigation. We write today to once again ask that you provide information to the Committees,” they wrote.
Although they received a response their first request on this information in September 2015, it did not fulfill their inquiry and had improper redactions, according to Modern Healthcare.
If the congressmen don't receive a response by January 28, they said they will consider "the use of compulsory process."