Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) issued the following statement today after the Obamacare co-op in his home state of Utah, Arches Health Plan, became the tenth nonprofit health insurance issuers under the President’s health law to fail:
“The failure of Utah’s co-op is a direct consequence of Obamacare’s inability to put Utah patients first. Because of Obamacare’s broken promises, patients in Utah will be forced out of their health plans and federal taxpayers will be left footing the bill for this botched experiment. Today’s latest failure underscores the need to repeal this disastrous law in its entirety and replace it with patient-centered reforms.”
President Obama’s signature domestic achievement – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) established the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (CO-OP) loan program which, to date, has issued $2.4 billion in loans to non-profit health insurance issuers. Hatch has long questioned the integrity of the program and has conducted aggressive oversight to ensure taxpayer dollars do not go to waste.
Hatch, a long-time of opponent of the President’s health law, is the coauthor of the Patient CARE Act, a legislative plan that repeals Obamacare and replaces it with cost-addressing measures, with Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. Fred Upton.
