Lawmakers Grill IRS Chief On Obamacare Rollout

Media outlets report that a House panel questioned Sarah Hall Ingram, the Internal Revenue Service official running the agency’s Obamacare office, who testified the health law rollout is going smoothly. Another House panel heard conflicting views of the law's impact on businesses.

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Lawmakers Hear Differing Views On Health Care Law’s Effect On Business
Some businesses say they’ll be forced to hire fewer people or cut employee hours to avoid having to offer insurance coverage to workers under the new health care law. But an economic researcher says there’s too much misinformation circulating about the law and that there’s no data to support claims that companies have already been cutting workers hours. These views were expressed Wednesday at House Small Business subcommittee hearing to look into the part of the law that requires companies with 50 workers or more to offer an affordable insurance plan to those working an average of 30 hours a week in any month (10/9).

The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire: IRS Official: Not 'Consorting With Devil' On Obamacare
Sarah Hall Ingram, who oversees the Internal Revenue Service role in the health-care overhaul, hasn’t been “consorting with the Devil,” she testified at a hearing on Wednesday. But Republicans suggested she has been doing a few other bad things, notably discussing taxpayer information in emails with the White House, contrary to IRS rules. That’s clear from the fact that the IRS itself redacted the taxpayer identities before turning over the email conversations, citing confidentiality rules, lawmakers said (McKinnon, 10/9).

Politico: IRS Obamacare Official: Rollout Smooth On Our End
A House panel finally got to question the Internal Revenue Service official running the agency's Obamacare office today — and she calmly maintained that her part of the health law rollout is going just fine. At a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing Wednesday, Sarah Hall Ingram stepped into a political hotbed and was plied with questions from Republicans about her former leadership of the IRS department that targeted tea party groups last year (Cunningham, 10/10).

The Hill: GOP Grills IRS’s ObamaCare Chief
House Republicans accused the IRS on Wednesday of illegally sharing confidential tax information with political officials at the White House. Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee questioned whether Sarah Hall Ingram, the head of the Internal Revenue Service's Affordable Care Act Office, shared private tax information with top healthcare officials in the Obama administration (Baker, 10/9).