June 2
ObamaCare: More than $700 million already committed to contractors and consultants
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 10:49AM 
After Democrats passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, supporters were faced with making preparations for the government to assume control of what remained of the private healthcare market. Just as Medicaid and Medicare were built on vast bureaucracies, PPACA (commonly called ObamaCare) would require the same. So far, more than $700 million in federal funding has been obligated or spent.
Those hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been committed to contractors and consultants. The Government Accountability Office is required by statute to report on “the general expertise of the contractors and consultants.” It will come as no surprise to most conservatives that this type of information, according to GAO, “is not generally contained in the databases maintained by HHS [Dept. Health and Human Services].
So GAO did what they could by simply providing “a description of the contracts reported.” That falls short of what the statute requires, but we must remind ourselves we are talking bureaucracy.
Millions have been obligated and/or spent in individual states for “PPACA-related support and services.” Examples from numerous pages of data include:
*California Managed Risk Medical Insurance: $171,811,721 committed, with $5,826,855 expended.
*Illinois Dept. of Insurance (administered by Health Alliance Plans): $17,352,788 committed; $68,798 expended.
*Physicians Health Plan of Mid Michigan: $22,717,163 committed; $1,136,798 expended.
*Group Health Inc. (N.Y. PCIP): $44,939,297 committed; $1,252,824 expended.
Aside from support and services for the complex bill, numerous other activities were funded. A few examples:
*Maricom Systems Inc. Early retiree reinsurance program/contact center; $3,664,653 committed; $2,101,352 expended.
*eHealth Insurance Services for HHS health plan data collection, software services; $9,960,933 committed; $2,905,805 expended.
*Administrative personnel support for the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Program to FM Talent Source; $35,453 committed; $5881 expended.
One line item seemed strange. For PCIP third-party administrator, Government Employees Health Association, 53,897,550 was committed but nothing has been expended yet.
For purposes of making things clear, GAO pointed out the following tutorial for us laypersons:
“…An obligation is a definite commitment that creates a legal liability of the government that will give rise to a payment immediately or in the future. An agency incurs an obligation when it awards a contract, and the obligated amount is generally the amount of the agency’s liability at the time of award. We did not audit reported amounts…Expenditures are outlays or funds paid to a contractor. We did not audit reported amounts.”
Gross totals of the contracts GAO tallied should shock even the biggest government spender. Taxpayers are on the hook for obligations of $706,492,228, with $105,919,565 already expended. Those amounts are just for getting PPACA off the ground.
A conservative has a hard time understanding why Democrats would seek more of the healthcare market when Medicaid and Medicare have been impossible for bureaucrats to control and manage responsibly. It’s even harder to understand how the government can spend $706,492,228 on contractors who presumably know more about the law than our legislators or than those who run government agencies.
Democrats who passed and promoted the bill, however, admitted they did not read the legislation before signing it.
GAO released the report on July 14 with scant attention from legacy media who are focused on the politics of the debt ceiling battle.
(Analysis by Kay B. Day/July 27, 2011)
Sources and Additional Reading
GAO report on PPACA contractors and consultants (US Government Accountability Office)
ObamaCare a jobs eraser (The US Report)
More ObamaCare Scandal (The US Report)
(Analysis by Kay B. Day/July 27, 2011)
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