HHS: A Trickle of Data, A Torrent of Spin

Floor Speech

Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, once again, the President is trying to mislead and hide the truth from the Congress and the American people. The Department of Health and Human Services released a report yesterday on the pricing of health plans on the Federal exchanges--a perfect example of bureaucratic doublespeak.

The report was quick to say that rates were 16 percent under their projections. Well, that sounds great, but what were their projections? Does that mean the rates will increase or decrease? They went to a lot of trouble to avoid answering that question. Some digging by Forbes Magazine, however, uncovered the truth. For 40-year-olds, rates will increase by an average of 99 percent for men, and 62 percent for women. It seems that the truth is a lot different.

The biggest problem, however, isn't the rate increase. With only 5 days left until implementation, the administration is unwilling or incapable of answering even basic questions. The data they released was only partial data samples.

It's time for the Department of Health and Human Services to stop playing games and hiding the truth, and time to give the American people the full truth about what the President's takeover of health care really means.

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