Camp demands ObamaCare info from IRS

Republicans are asking the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to hand over details about ObamaCare enrollment that may not come out in the administration’s official report next week.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) called on the agency Wednesday to disclose how many people have been vetted for insurance subsidies on the new exchanges.

{mosads}Camp and his colleagues want to know how many people will receive federal discounts on their coverage, as well as the age and income breakdowns of exchange applicants.

These details are crucial to understanding the evolving risk pools created by ObamaCare, but it is unclear whether the administration will make them known when it releases enrollment figures next week.

“The failure to sign up enough people, especially young Americans, will lead to an even greater increase in premiums, pushing healthcare out-of-reach for millions of Americans,” Camp wrote in a letter to IRS Acting Commissioner Daniel Werfel.

This concern underscores the risk facing the administration if it fails to enrolled several million people in the new marketplaces, including millions of healthy people.

A risk pool dominated by older, sicker patients will cause premiums to rise the following year and would likely cause insurers to exit the individual and small-group marketplaces.

The administration vows that it is on track to meet enrollment targets despite problems plaguing the federal enrollment website, HealthCare.gov.

Experts predict that, based on precedent, most enrollees with sign up for coverage ahead of deadlines in December and March. These waves of applicants will include most of the young people interested in coverage through ObamaCare, they say.