ObamaCare whistle-blower speaks out on do-nothing contractor
Paula Bujewski explains allegations against Missouri ObamaCare processing center where she says employees were paid to do nothing
This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," May 16, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTERN, FOX NEWS HOST: A whistle-blower goes ON THE RECORD. She says $1.2 billion of your tax money was paid to ObamaCare workers who were told to pretend to work. She was one of those workers paid to do nothing.
Paula joins us for her first national TV interview. Paula, nice to see you.
PAULA BUJEWSKI, OBAMACARE WHISTLE-BLOWER: Hi.
VAN SUSTEREN: Paula, tell me, where did you work, how long did you work there, and what did you do?
BUJEWSKI: I worked for Cognosante, a company contracted by Serco to help fulfill the contract they have with CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. I worked there from early October to just before Thanksgiving in 2013.
VAN SUSTEREN: OK. In that time period, what did you see? I understand the contract was to process paper applications under ObamaCare. Did you see that work being done?
BUJEWSKI: It was done on such a small scale. In the two months I was there, I maybe at best processed a dozen applications. Most of the time, we were sitting around doing nothing. That was the gist of it.
VAN SUSTEREN: Did anybody say anything like why don't we have any work or why isn't anything being done?
BUJEWSKI: Yes, I did. Others did. Early on, we got a lot of excuses about the healthcare.gov site not working properly. Once that was working properly, the case was still the same. As it is today, as well, as you are hearing from other employees that still work there.
VAN SUSTEREN: Were they getting any specific instructions, employees, about the work or why they didn't seem to have a high volume of work?
BUJEWSKI: They mostly chocked it up to system problems but even when we were getting some of these applications, often we weren't able to access them. And, Greta, I would like to say my intention is not to bash the Obama administration or their efforts for national health care because I have actually been a supporter of that all along. My experience there was so disappointing and I actually contacted Claire McCaskill office because I wanted them to know what was going on out there and how I felt about that.
VAN SUSTEREN: What was the response from Senator Claire McCaskill office? First of all what did you tell them and second of all what was the Senator's response?
BUJEWSKI: I told them exactly what I had been saying all along, what I told KMOV, Channel 4 locally in St. Louis, and what I'm telling you now, that we were sitting around every day doing nothing, and applications were not getting processed and questions were not getting answered about that. And they forwarded me to subcommittee on oversight of contracts and budgets in Washington where I spoke to someone about the situation there.
VAN SUSTEREN: We tried to get some information from CMS, not Serco. CMS said they were committed to working with Serco. They say they closely monitored the work that Serco was doing. What the statement doesn't say, it doesn't say the quantity of work or they were ever on site to monitor. Did you ever have any sense that CMS was on site monitoring what was being done or not done?
BUJEWSKI: Well, in the short time I was there, they came once to my knowledge. But they never visited the site of the building that I worked on. I don't know how they can say they monitored the work coming out of that building and support the efforts of what's going on there, knowing what I know and knowing what people who still work there know.
And I want to say that everybody who works in that building knows what I'm saying is the truth. The people who came forward, whether they chose to identify themselves or not, are telling the truth as well.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why did you leave?
BUJEWSKI: I imagine -- why did I leave?
(LAUGHER)
Because I was bored out of my mind. It was driving me crazy. And I have a conscience. That's not what I signed up for. That's not what I wanted to work there for. I was excited to be a part of something that I supported and I couldn't have been more disappointed.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why do you think this happened? Why do you think that there is no work being done?
BUJEWSKI: Well, as I said before, I think somebody figured out how to make a lot of money off of this thing, some way, somehow. I know there is a lot of crookery and corruption and self-gain these days. For all I know, maybe our own politicians are benefiting from that. I don't know.
VAN SUSTEREN: Paula, thank you for joining us.
BUJEWSKI: All right. Thank you.
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