The Affordable Care Act is back under attack. Not as in the repeal-and-replace debates of yore, but in a fresher take from Republican lawmakers who say key parts of the ACA cost taxpayers too much and provide incentive for fraud.
Several House Republican leaders have called on two watchdog agencies to investigate, while Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) fired off more than half a dozen questions in a recent letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
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While potential fraud in government programs has always been a rallying cry for conservatives, the recent criticisms are a renewed line of attack on the ACA because repealing it is unlikely, given that more than 21 million people enrolled in marketplace plans for this year.
Congress was actually mandated to use the exchanges created by the ACA. It was an amendment proposed by a Republican, who bought the narrative that Democrats were forcing bad insurance on the American people, and would never subject themselves to it. Democrats actually thought that was a great idea and went for it.
Republicans have since railed against the amendment they proposed, claiming Democrats opted themselves out of Obamacare.