a lot of changes in his second term. you recently appointed john kerry and chuck hagel. smart moves. the only two people in the united to look even more tired than you. [laughter] a great strategy. mr. president, you will leave office a very young man. the presidency has taken it's toll. you are starting to look like a judge on "law and order." just say, you are on thin ice, counselor. you could have that part right away. your hair is so white, it could be a member of your cabinet. [laughter] [crowd oohs] he can handle it. he recently picked the new treasury secretary, jack lew. if the president ever has to let him go, he can say, it is not lew, it's me. [laughter] the quote a city must but the president is that he is always the coolest guy in the room. that is what everyone says. he is the coolest guy in the room. here is my question.

who else is in that room? it is not hard to be the cool one when the other guys in the room r biden, hagel, and carry. i would be cool to if i was in a room where steve ville sackett showing someone how to do the harlem shake. i have made some jokes about the president this evening. i am looking forward to my audit. [laughter] it is coming. i know. i would like to take a moment here and change gears and say some into the president. regarding the events of the past two weeks. some of you may not know this. i grew up in boston. but parents still live there. my brother, luke, raised his family in watertown. i would like to take this opportunity to thank, you mr. president, for visiting that great city and helping people begin to heal with your inspiring words. you made a huge difference. [applause]

it has been said recently that you don't mess with boston. as someone who grew up there, i would like to echo that sentiment. it is really pretty simple. if you're going to pick on a city, don't choose one where nine out of 10 people are related to a cop. don't do it. it is stupid. that includes myself. i have one more thing to mention before i go. everyone is obsessed with washington these days. we saw how you went crazy for "house of cards" "homeland", hollywood can't get enough of your world. i'm excited to announce that they are going to make a television miniseries about the power players here in washington. they just finished the casting, and i would like to announce who is going to play who. this is big. vice president joe biden is going to be played by bob barker. [laughter]

former white house adviser david axelrod will be played by higgins from magnum pi. [laughter] this was also produced by steven spielberg, by the way. the present of paul ryan will be played by mr. bean. [laughter] senator chuck schumer will be played by grandpa munster. [laughter] senator harry reid will be played by the old man from the american gothic painting. [laughter] fox news ceo roger ailes will be we have signed a deal speaker boehner will be played

by tan mom. secretary of homeland security janet napolitano will be played by paul giamatti. [laughter] former white house chief of staff and chicago mayor rahm emanuel will be played by stewie from "family guy." secretary of state john kerry will be played by any easter island head. i cannot tell those two apart. [laughter] supreme court chief justice john roberts will be played by buzz light year. senator mitch mcconnell will be played by dame edna.

cnn anchor wolf blitzer will be played by a furby. lapierre will be played by the facemelt guy from ?raiders of the lost ark.? and white house press secretary jay carney will be played by ralphie from "a christmas story." ladies and gentlemen, this is a huge honor. thank you very much. [applause] >> great job, conan.

that was awesome. we want to thank everyone for a really terrific night. especially my family and friends. everybody in the room tonight. thank you very much. it was a great night. [applause] we ask that you stay seated, at least around your table until the president and his party depart or its they will be escorted out by the incoming president the white house correspondents association. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> tomorrow on "washington david williams will talk about the boston marathon bombings and combating terrorism in the u.s. in a roundtable discussion about the news of the week. our guests are a white house reporter and a political congressional reporter. -russialook at the u.s. relationship with william palmer rants of the woodrow wilson center. at 7:00on journal, live eastern, on c-span.

this week on "newsmakers" our guest is congressman adam smith from the armed services committee. he talks about reports of chemical weapons use in syria, the boston marathon bombings, and intelligence sharing' across intelligence agencies. in democracy, the purpose of public office is not to fulfill personal ambition. elected officials must serve a cause greater than themselves. the political wind blows left and right, polls rise and fall, supporters come and go. but in the end, leaders are defined by the convictions they hold. deepest conviction, the guiding principle of the thenistration is that

united states of america must strive to expand the reach of freedom. >> the dedication of the bush presidential library and museum, sunday morning at 10:00 30 eastern on c-span. >> now testimony from the head administrator in charge of implementing the affordable care act or that he talks about progress of state health insurance exchanges and the need to be ready by october 1 and the cost of health care premiums. from the house energy subcommittee, this is just over .wo hours are >> good morning. thenvene this hearing of subcommittee to examine the health and human services management of the affordable care act as we approach the january 1 deadline for full implementation. is here tohan

testify on behalf of of hhs. since i was responsible for lamenting this, many changes to the private health market, mr. cohan and others have their work cut out for them in the beginning of the next year. full implementation will finally take lace and on that date americans have been promised the ability to purchase health insurance plans through exchanges. we all remember the many promises that were made in the rush to pass the bill by any means necessary that if you like your coverage you can keep it, yet we see many impending stories about companies faced with tough decisions. the decision to provide that coverage is related to another promise that will surely be broken, that the law will lower cost per i.

a school district in my district has said they will see their premiums go up by almost a million dollars. yet there is another promise that we are hearing more recently from the lawless defenders that it be ready for enrollment on october 1. since only 18 states have elected to establish their own , this will cover 26 additional states and seven other states. i hope that we would hear today about the progress being made in building those exchanges. residentws reports and obama's budget have indicated that they are seeking additional funding to operate the exchanges, which is troubling considering a substantial amount of funding has artie been expended to build the exchanges and they have yet to even begin. today i expect a full accounting including where they

will obtain funding for these programs and will they ask for more. since package-- to its passage, we have heard many stories about the healthcare loss prevention. higherttle bead to health care navigators to sign up for obama care. we are concerned that it is being grade rated as an ever rey piggy bank as a slush fund. toope that you will be able address the potential overutilization that is so the washington post has called it the incredible shrinking prevention fund. we have many concerns, including how they will be trained and supervised. who receive any

compensation from insurance companies are prohibited from becoming navigators. we recognize the need to have impartial navigators, but the realities of the insurance market also indicate those who have been selling insurance many years may have some expect ease of value. furthermore, we have questions that we are not just paying navigators. someone with experience and training is not qualified or excluded, whereas somebody with out experienced into the front of the line. this only scratches the surface. ablee that we will also be to discuss the ability to determine whether health insurance premiums being .ncreased is legitimate are obamacare have consistently promised lower cost, and we have heard from supporters there are tax credits and subsidies

available, though recent studies show only eight percent of the public will qualify. we will here today is what the other 92% of us can expect i. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and welcome to you. thanks to the affordable care act, tens of millions of americans who would otherwise be uninsured will receive health insurance for the first time. americans will enjoy protections from the worst abuses of the insurance industry, rescission, coverage denial, and annual lifetime limits. big changes, and the time to implement them is coming up very fast. in just over five months, citizens will be able to sign up for health insurance through the federal or state marketplaces. while signing up for coverage should be easy in october,

implementation will be a complicated process over these next few months, not because of flaws in the law, but because this is a new approach to covering -- because this is a new approach to coverage. and the cbo has predicted that overall consumer cost will go down once the marketplaces are implemented. there is no reason to think it will not work. it works great in massachusetts under me romney, but we have to educate millions about the marketplace. i am super glad you are doing this oversight, and i think we need to hear from the witness probably not just today but as we go through the summer about how this is going, where there are challenges, and where the agency expects to a dress those challenges. i think we should conduct this

with appropriate perspective. i wish when the naysayers raise the specter of potential increases in premiums for healthy people that they can also put this in perspective by understanding the tax credit costs will-pocket stroke lead lower costs for these individuals and millions of others. i wish that folks raising the specter of high premiums for young men could add to that perspective the millions of all ages who will pay lower premiums and will not be discriminated , like simply because they are female, or the millions of americans who will receive better or more dependable insurance coverage. when people complain about the fact that the obama administration is spending money to make sure citizens understand the new law, i wish they would take the perspective to remember the bush administration did the same thing, even hiring blimps to

,pread the word about medicare and spending $300 million on a public-relations campaign. and i will say that i voted billst the medicare part d because it did not allow negotiation by the secretary of hhs to lower prescription drug costs heard it even though i voted against it, i had town hall meetings through my i had internet training to help my constituents figure out how to sign up for it. that kind ofed bipartisan cooperation as we implement these exchanges at the national and state level. i hope that we take that perspective and i hope that we develop that perspective as the affordable care act is implemented are.

in january 2006, time magazine described the initial nightmares of implementation of medicare part d, saying there had been many low income seniors being turned away by the prescription drug program. in vermont, the implementation of the law was described as "a public health emergency." those problems are a most forgotten until today. ultimately part d got off the ground, and even those who initially voted against the bill like me took a stake in it and work to fix the problem. the biggest problem, the doughnut hole, was eliminated by the affordable care act. i think as usual there is a lesson to be learned in this history. i hope the implementation of the affordable care act goes more smoothly than the implementation of the medicare part d, but i am not naïve enough and nobody should need to think it will be completely

wrinkle free. what i hope is as problems arise we work together to identify and fix them instead of unghem to score political points, because we all have a stake in providing quality affordable health care insurance coverage for all americans. i hope at this hearing and our future work represents an effort by everybody to work together to implement this law. thank you for having the hearing and i yield back are. continues hearing this committee's rigorous oversight of the obama administration's implementation of the health care law. we have had to come before the subcommittee three times and uncovered the promises made by the affordable care act not quite match up. 2011, we learned they were granting waivers to individuals and companies that would face large premium increases over loss of coverage because of

obama care. we also found that through the implementation of the early retiree insurance plan, they had handed out millions to certain corporations. even more troubling was the fact the early plan burned through the $5 billion allocated so quickly that it actually stopped accepting applications in may of 2011, more than two years before the end.ram was supposed to and this bill has been the law of the land some eight years and we are just three months away from full implementation. it does not bode well when just last week a top supporter of the publicly warned the hhs secretary that he sees a train wreck coming. will the exchanges be ready, how will families prepare, will

they be able to rely on coverage, william adults be up to afford higher cost. the alarm bells are getting louder by the days ar going up, insurers are warning about premium increases, and small businesses are struggling with the choices. need certainty, employers need certainty. will always show us what they are doing to implement the law. finally, last week this committee marked a bill that targeted the prevention of the public health fund to give that money to those who need it most. americans with pre-existing conditions who were promised coverage by supporters of obama care only to find the program was closed to new applicants a few weeks ago. the plan has been an unfortunate example of the problems of obama care, the promises don't match

reality, and i think it is unacceptable and i look forward to the vote this afternoon to fix it. thank you for coming back to our subcommittee. my interest actually predates the plan, right after the affordable care act past. we were in the minority, but you were good enough to come to the office and talk about it at least. it has been very difficult to get information out of the center for consumer information oversight. the ranking member says we ought to be in a posture of working together, but it is difficult to do that when the most basic questions remain unanswered. we have october 1, coming fast, five months away. it seems like there are more

questions about the readiness of your office and the administration to get the answers that people want. you yourself want to the insurance agency conference and it is only prudent to assume not everything will work from day one. i agree with that, but i think we at this committee need to hear from you, where are the concerns? where do you see the lights blinking on the dashboard? what are you doing to prepare yourself and the agency for that date in october when everybody goes online on the hub at may or may not exist to sign up for these programs? senator rockefeller said it well the other day, people will get a bad impression that will stay with them. i think the references to part d

are reasonable to make, but that happened after two years of operation. you have had three years of preparation. the application process is lengthy and complex. people are asked to estimate whether their employer will provide insurance, what their earnings will be. these are tough questions that need answers, and we hope we get some today and we will be adding additional questions. iq for being here today and i look forward to your questions. >> we now recognize mr. waxman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the republicans on this committee and on the health subcommittee have held five hearings since december on the

affordable care act. each of these five hearings repeats the themes that they expressed when the opposed the bill. and they certainly never expected this to become law. republican members cannot accept that health reform is working and it is now the law of the land. they opposed it from the beginning until it was signed into law, insisting it had no chance of passing, until the supreme court ruled a , republican said it was not constitutional. until the day president obama was reelected, they insisted the merrick and people would vote him out of so they could overturn this law. none of that happened. and now they call this oversight hearing because they predict all of these terrible things to happen. they are not predicting, they are wishing bad things to

happen. this is not a hearing to be constructive. it is a hearing to attack the law and hope it does not work. the affordable care act will go fully into effect and americans will never again have to worry about their ability to get affordable, high-quality health insurance. so the republicans say, well, the implementation will not go smoothly. well, the implementation of any new big program has kinks, but the affordable care act is proceeding on schedule and has done a remarkable amount of good for people. over 3 million young adults now have health insurance. over 100 million americans have received preventive health benefits. more than 6 million seniors have saved $6.1 billion in the medicare part d drug program. beginning next year, tens of millions of americans who had

otherwise would have been without health insurance will have dependable quality health insurance. my republican colleagues say that people want certainty. the certainty they would have if there was no affordable care act is that millions of people would be discriminated against because they have pre-existing health conditions, because they offer a risk to the insurance companies, they have to pay more money for their care. they would have the certainty of knowing that insurance companies would do everything they could to keep them from getting coverage if it is going to cost the insurance companies money, and that is what we wanted to change. republican still oppose the affordable care act. they are not taking a constructive approach. they are not saying, what can we do to make this law and implementation work more smoothly?

they are saying what can we blame people for supporting this law about problems that may come up? i am pleased that we have at this hearing today, again, gary in decemberas here addressing many of the questions that i am sure he will address again today. there has been huge progress in implementing the affordable care act. success does not change the opinions of my colleagues on the republican side of the aisle. it makes them more determined to look for something to criticize. today on the house floor, we vote on a bill they have because under the affordable care act we had a high risk tool for people with pre-existing conditions were waiting until january to be able to buy health insurance without

being discriminated against, without being charged more money because of pre-existing conditions. we have spent $5 billion on a --toram to proceed that precede that for people with pre-existing conditions to be in a high risk pool. we ran out of money. republicans don't worry that we run out of money for everything the government does because they supported the idea of sequestration happening and we are running out of money and all sorts of places where the government has an obligation. what we have run out of money for that pre-existing pool, pre- existing medical problems pulool until the last few months of this year. so the republicans are suddenly concerned about people with pre- existing conditions, deciding to make sure the fund has enough money to go on the rest of this year.

but they fund it by taking away the public health prevention funds until 2016. it makes no sense whatsoever. we are happy to support the continuation of that pre- existing pool until the end of this year, but certainly we could have found a better funding source, and the republicans have denied the opportunity for any other source we offered on the house floor today. you have to question how sincere they are about wanting to help people with pre-existing conditions, how sincere they are wanting to see a smoother presentation of the bill now that it is law. they want this bill to fail. they want to go back to the time when millions of people had no chance for insurance. that is the certainty they want to offer, and it is a certainty. cohen andulate mr.

his agency for doing all they can to make sure the law succeeds. >> for our witness, you are aware this committee is holding an investigative hearing and has the policy of taking testimony under oath. you have any objections to giving testimony under oath? >> no, sir. >> you're entitled to be advised by counsel. do you wish to do that? >> no, sir. >> do you swear to tell the testimony that you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing nothing but the truth. thank you. we are now under oath and subject to the penalties set forth in the united states code. you may give a five-minute

summary of your written statement. >> thank you, and good morning. i appreciate the opportunity to tell you about compliments over the past year. a lot has happened on implementation of the affordable care act and i would like to describe some of the progress we have made explaining how i know we are on track for open enrollment for that we achieved a major milestone earlier this month when we open the window for issuers to submit lands to be sold through the marketplace. we said that would happen april 1 and it did right on schedule. we have had a very incursion response and we expect to see robust competition for the business of millions of americans will be shopping in the new marketplace. states operating their own marketplaces have begun accepting submissions from issuers as well. it is important to understand the ways in which we have continued to improve our process since the window opened april 1.

we have gotten feedback and have addressed whatever issues have come up for and we have a helpdesk that responds to anyone with questions. we hold regular phone calls and regularly publish answers to frequent lee asked questions. i'm extremely proud of the work the team team is doing to make sure we will have rocks on the shelves by october 1. another key element is the federal data hub for that sommers will be providing certain information to determine if they are eligible for tax credits to pay their premiums to the health premiums that will be available. the us will be transmitted in real-time to be checked against information regarding income, citizenship coming cars rate, and so forth. it will not store information, it is a conduit for the data

for the agencies that keep the information. this enables real-time electronic verification of information to determine eligibility and will reduce the need for people to submit paper documentation for that states will also have access to the data hub. we have begun testing the connections and have succeeded in transferring data. this is another major milestone achieved on schedule. testing will continue and the hub will be fully ready in time this fall. another key element is the single streamlined application consumers will use. we have gone through an extensive consumer testing process since the draft of the application was published and have continued to work to make it as simple as possible. the results are encouraging.

it will answer questions, alleviate concerns, and direct consumers to additional help predic. how simple and straightforward we make the process, we know that buying health insurance is not like buying a book. the people coming to marketplace will never have had commercial health insurance before and will need help choosing the plan that is right for them. in the past year we have put in place a for writing of ways for people to get help. people can learn about the affordable care act on to understand coverage costs and prepare a checklist for shopping for coverage in the marketplace. there are short videos to talk about shopping for health plans. capabilityso a chat

so people can get questions answered quickly. the call center will operate in june and during open enrollment they will answer questions 24 hours per day, seven days per week. navigators will provide fair, accurate, impartial information to help consumers use the marketplace and select their qualified health plan. maynsed agents and brokers enroll consumers and coverage through the marketplace in every state. we have been hard at work over the past year to improve the health insurance market for all americans. this work in these achievements make me confident for the future healthcare market. holding thisor hearing and i would be happy to answer questions or the -- i will be happy to answer questions.

>> regarding the navigators, i believe the law says they have received compensation from insurance company, they are not eligible to be employed as a navigator? >> if they have received compensation from an insurance company in connection with the rolling people in health coverage, they are not eligible. >> let's say somebody has 20 years in the field. she has received a license to sell health insurance in the state of transylvania, she takes 20 credit hours, she passes the test, maintains her license. let's say that she has sold a toe range of insurance perhaps thousands of individuals. she would like to apply for jobs as navigators. john doe has a high school degree and no insurance experience. he was eligible to be hired?

>> it is important to understand the difference between a navigator and health insurance agent. >> the first one is qualified to offer health insurance-- >> she is discriminate from been a navigator because she has experience in the field? >> but she is welcome to help them achieve coverage in the marketplace. >> somebody who does this for a living is being prohibited to advise people to buy insurance under the exchange, how to buy from the exchange? no longerld choose to be selling insurance on behalf of issuers and be a navigator. .hat is her choice hear >> some of this i am puzzled about. in terms of the timeframe, employers have said i have to make decisions now. decisions now.ke how soon will the information be

available to them? >> plans are being submitted now, they will be reviewed by us and state insurance regulators, and issuers will have the opportunity to make changes. >> do you have a date? >> september. get finalnnot training before they see the exchange, so i hope you adjust that date. >> the primary function of the navigators in the early time will be outreach and enrollment. when in rome and starts in october, is when they will be helping people. >> these things will be available in september, then sales start in october? you feel that you will be fully ready? >> yes. ,> with regard to navigators there are some concerns, are

people who are involved in political groups, they can apply for jobs as navigators? >> the requirements are set forth-- >> there are prohibitions in terms of activities? >> we are hoping that groups that have a demonstrated history of serving the people in their community that we are trying to reach will apply. >> are acorn members good? >> i cannot speak to any group. they can apply. their application would be reviewed. dataam concerned about confidentiality and hit the ws.s-- and hipa la what insurance and penalties will be in place to make sure they do not keep that data from over my computer systems, that they cannot use it for any other purpose? >> navigators will be trained on

the appearance of privacy and security and subject to all of the laws and regulations that affect people-- >> are there specific criminal penalties? >> there are/. >> are they allowed to accept her dishes from insurance or private groups? prohibition is against receiving compensation for enrolling people in coverage. them up but if they get donations are they permitted to do that? >> i think i would need to understand better the type of donation. emma can you look into that and get back to us? with regard to, do you think you have enough funding at this point, enough money at this white--at this point to take care of the enrollment of people in these exchanges? wefor fiscal year 2013, have enough funding and we have

requested additional funding for fiscal year 2014. >> thank you. >> the chairman talked about the hypothetical person, mary smith , who is a registered insurance broker and she cannot be a navigator while she is selling insurance because it would be a conflict of interest. but if she with all of her qualifications decided not to represent any insurance companies or do that, she could be a navigator does then she would not have a conflict of interest, right? .> that is right credi >> on community groups, as i recall, we had a number of community groups hoping sign up seniors for that with medicare part d? emma corrected. >> that was a similar situation because it involved asking senior citizens to sort a number of plans and apply online, right?

>> that is true. >> you had to have trained individuals helping folks do this, right? >> we did. i read do you have a lot of confidence that on october 1, 2013, consumers will be able to sign up for these exchanges. i want to ask about the states, including my state of colorado that will either run their own marketplaces or in partnership with the federal government, 24 of them. what is your view of the state market places? >> i am encouraged with the progress states have been making. we work with them on a daily basis, in close contact with the people at the exchanges and also with the state medicaid agencies. that is an important part of this. it is fair to say some

states started earlier in the process, some states started later, so we are looking carefully at the progress each , and ourmaking commitment is there will be a functioning marketplace in every state on october 1. we have been working with states to make sure we provide support that is needed to make that happen. >> what about the states that ?ave gotten a late start > you are giving them extra help? >> that is correct. the milestones and benchmarks we should be looking at to measure the progress over the next few months? provided a timeline for what is supposed to be happening the next several months. i think the keys are we are on schedule, on track with the it we have are doing, and

achieved a big milestone with the submission process, the federal data hub is in testing now, continued testing through the summer. it is important to look at each of the steps along the path and make sure we are on track. i am optimistic and confident where we are. >> a few months ago at a conference you said, "it is only prudent to assume everything will not work perfectly on day one and we have plans in place to a dress things that may happen." you also said as we get closer to october 1, "we'll be in a better position to know know what contingency plans we have to implement." that seems in contrast what you are saying this morning. can you explain those comments, and if that means that hhs will not be ready to implement the law? >> i think sometimes when

things get reported, the context gets lost. >> i have never noticed that before. [laughter] toi was speaking really some of the comments that you made in your opening statement, that we know that when big programs begin, some tames riddick sometimes things are not perfect on day one and it is only prudent to be prepared for the things that might happen that you could do better. we are like all federal agencies subject to guidelines that are published by the standards and technology for when you do and it project. we will be up and operional october 1. >> can you tell us how you are developing business and strategies? >> it is a constant process. , you doo the build

testing, you see how things are going, you come up with strategies for how to deal. let's say we get more applications on day one that we planned for, so you have to have redundancy and be prepared for that. those are the types of things. >> thank you. to the quoteack about which contingency plan should have to do it now. the secretary was here last week and asked about contingency plans and she said there are none, everything will be ready. which is it cut everything will be ready or planning for contingencies? >> everything will be ready, but we are also planning for anything that if we go into operation, if situations come up at we need to address, we

will address them and make sure the experience for american consumers is as seamless and as good as it can be. >> the committee would benefit from seeing some of those contingencies. would it be fair to say that closing the enrollment for pre- existing conditions, was that a contingency? >> closing enrollment on the pre-existing conditions plan was something we did because it was the prudent thing to do in light of the fact we had a certain amount of money, $5 billion. >> was that a contingency plan to close that? >> i think we were looking at the expenditures and we were committed as careful stewards of the money appropriated to do whatever we could to live within the money. >> the secretary says there was not a contingency plan, now you're telling me there was a contingency plan to do with pre- existing conditions, we need to know. >> i did not say that.

>> it sounded like you said at, and we take it out of context that is how it will be reported or is it [captioning performed by national captioning institute] ♪ we have to level with each other, people will count on you to do your job january 1, and you have raised questions, your main information-technology guy has raised questions, and you look at what happened with pre- existing conditions, there is a word that goes around, some i can saying committee, others i cannot, but the word that keeps scoping.p is de- are you actively discussing reducing the scope of the affordable care act? >> no. >> you are under oath. when we call you back next year to talk about this, there is no plan to narrow the scope of the affordable care act?

we intend to implement fully the affordable care act heard it we have announced some portions that will be put off until 2015, but at this point i don't anticipate any de-scoping of the affordable care act. >> and yet there are people who have been de-scoped from the program, have they not? to bewas always meant temporary, the pre-existing program, and it points to why we needed the affordable care act act. those people were not able to get health insurance coverage at all. >> building a bridge does not do any good if you cannot get to the other side, and now these people i fallen into an eight- vasham.assem per tha what about the shopping exchanges?

>> let's be clear, employers will have choice. they can choose among the plans .vailable in the shop prin the one-year transition effects only employee choice. that sounds like a narrowing in scope, at least to me. let me ask about taking money from the prevention fund. and somebody in your progress make that decision? >> no. >> who made the decision? >> the secretary. >> can you talk about how your department has been using the moved?he secretary kerr

>> the prevention fund money that we are using goes to the $54 million funding opportunity for the never get her program-- for the navigator program. >> are you taking more money for that? >> i am not aware of that at this point, no. thehe secretary has ability under the law, and unless she were to level with us about the future plans, you would have no way of knowing, we would have no way of knowing, that secret is locked up with the secretary, thank you. >> mr. watchman? is to waxman? >> it is amazing to me republicans are complaining the money was taken to pay for the implementation of the affordable republicanser the deny the administration funds to

implement the affordable care act. it is like the kid who killed his mother and father and then said, well, you have to care for me because i'm an orphan. i don't want you repeating this legislation from being implemented, forcing the administration to make these choices, but they are making a conscious choice to take the prevention and public health for to pay for a short time the pre-existing condition insurance program that is supposed to go out of existence at the end of this year. this pre-existing insurance program was part of the .ffordable care act credi it is something they voted against. in february of this year, your agency announced enrollment

would be suspended to ensure the program's funds which were would pay the claims of existing enrollees. this is what happens when you a program. they want to medicare and medicaid. that means when you run out of money, you run out of services .re tha why was the decision made? >> we had a certain amount of money authorized for the program. the top priority was to make sure those people enrolled in the program got continuity of care until the end of the year. >> 107,000? >> at least that many, yes are. >> he will receive those benefits until at least the end of the year? >> correct. >> and this was always meant to be a temporary bridge to full of

bull mentation in 2014 when insurers would be art from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions? >> that is correct. >> and can those individuals now get access to affordable quality health care coverage when it goes fully into effect in january? >> insurers will not be able to turn them away or charge the more just because they are sick or i. >> it is quite amazing the republicans suddenly want to champion a program for a few people get to a much more sane way to handle the matter. people in this pre-existing end of theil the year, we don't pay all of their expenses, do we? they have to buy their insurance. >> that is correct. >> will that be the same price as other insurance? >> it is about the price of

other people's insurance today, unlike state high-risk pools where it is tycally much high. >> we talk about it being fully implemented in 2014, but many key benefits and protections are ready in place. i want to ask how americans are already benefiting. insurancets denying to children with pre-existing conditions, correct? >> correct. imho and are there with pre- existing health conditions? >> as many as 17 million. >> and they have to be covered right now, the others will be covered in january? >> that is correct. >> the law also bans annual lifetime coverage limits, and when did this go into effect? >> it did, in september 2010. >>, and he americans will be affected?

105 million.ely and what are the rescissions? the affordable care act, insurers often had a policy of post claim underwriting. it would wait to see if see if theyt sick, had health claims, and then they would go back to the application to see if there was something that was mistakenly entered and say we will take away your policy retroactively so we don't have to pay those claims. votedn republicans against the affordable care act, they were voting to let the insurance companies do the rescission, which is taking way insurance coverage when you needed even though you pay for it? >> that is correct.

>> yesterday, i was in my district before i flew back to d.c. and there was a panel on the health care law that was held a local hospital in my district and i was one of the people speaking on that panel and there were a number of people in the healthcare industry, people who have insurance. it seemed to be an underlying theme that continued to go through the room that nobody is ready for this law, nobody knows how it will work for them, and most people are really concerned the good healthcare they have is something they are in jeopardy of losing. it's a something i hear all the time talking to small businesses, families that have health care, concerned about whether they can keep that. are you out of touch with this? do you hear these real concerns? i think it is important to keep in mind that for the many

millions of americans who have health care through their employer, that employs more than 50 people, they are largely unaffected by the affordable care act. >> i met with the owner of whole foods, 30,000 employees, a large company, well respected nationally. they have health care their employees like. ,t is a highly successful plan they have managed control costs, beat the industry average, yet they still provide a plan their employees like. under the current law, from what they see, their plan is not even eligible. there ar 30,000-plus employees who have health care they like are at risk of losing that coverage. the old promise you like what you have you can keep it? it was broken to those people, one example. are your where of that? >> i cannot speak specifically to that. emma find out about it. that is a well respected company that has good

healthcare their employees really like, and they are at risk of losing it because of this law. some specificou things we have been seeing, starting with the pre-existing condition insurance program.