Republican senator renews threat to block Obamacare nominees
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The nonprofit Obamacare health plans that have recently failed started off from a "weak" position, the Obama administration wrote Thursday in a letter to Sen. Ben Sasse.
In response to an inquiry from Sasse about why the Department of Health and Human Services loaned about $1.2 billion to the plans, which have since shuttered, the agency provided a four-page explanation of the purpose of the plans, the type of oversight it provided and a summary of how it discovered plans in Iowa, Nebraska and Louisiana were failing.
The Nebraska Republican had asked the department to answer a number of questions about why half of the consumer operated and oriented plans, otherwise known as co-ops, have failed under financial strains. The co-ops were intended to increase competition in the new insurance marketplaces set up under the Affordable Care Act.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In its response to Sasse, HHS said it "takes its role of protecting taxpayer funds seriously" but said that like any other start-up, the co-ops weren't assured of becoming "viable and sustainable."