“This staggering increase in health insurance exchange subsidy spending cannot be explained by legislative changes or new economic assumptions, and therefore must reflect substantial changes in underlying assumptions regarding the program's utilization and costs,” the letter said.
Camp raised the issue earlier in the week with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who testified before his committee about the administration's fiscal year 2013 budget. As Camp noted in his letter to Geithner, Sebelius said she was not aware of the 30% increase and asked that he send her the question in writing.
In his correspondence, Camp said a general reference to “technical assumptions” as a reason for the increase would be considered unresponsive. “If such corrections are part of the $111 billion increase, please specify, in detail, the exact ‘assumptions' that changed in the FY 2013 budget proposal, and what financial impact each change ‘in assumption' had on spending projections,” the letter noted.
Camp has requested a response to his letter by March 5.
