Executive director of Connect for Health Colorado, Patty Fontneau, sat in front of the House Health Insurance and Environment Committee, and despite having asked for a raise during the exchange’s botched debut in the fall, despite hiring a woman wanted for fraud in Montana, despite saying they must increase fees on health insurance plans outside of the exchange to fund themselves, Fontneau felt there was no need for the state legislator to audit them because the federal government was already doing that. Well, by the federal government already doing that, she meant no, not really. As The Colorado Observer reports:
A Republican bill to audit Colorado’s health exchange was killed after its top official assured state lawmakers the oversight was not necessary because it had already undergone federal audits, but that’s not entirely accurate.
Documents obtained from Connect for Health Colorado show the federal government has not conducted audits on the award of $177 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars since the exchange was created in the wake of the Affordable Care Act. [the Peak emphasis]
Democrats have this idiotic blind faith that once a person becomes a bureaucrat they instantly inherit virtues only slightly less than those of Mother Theresa. In reality, they’re still the same self-interested Joes from any other economic sector, they just now have the full-weight and power of government behind their actions: a terrifying prospect.
State legislators now realize they were wrong to take Fontneau at her word, which she has proven over and over cannot be trusted. Dustin Zvonek, head of American for Prosperity-Colorado, has called upon Gov. John Hickenlooper to put down his beer and to request his own state audit now that the legislature has finished their session:
“While the session’s close means it’s too late now for lawmakers to admit their mistake and reverse ground, we urge Gov. Hickenlooper to demonstrate a greater commitment to oversight and transparency by requesting an in-depth financial and performance review of Connect for Health Colorado by the office of the state auditor,” [the Peak emphasis]
Democrats across the country forced Coloradans into this mess, the least Colorado Democrats can do is make sure this boondoggle doesn’t pull Colorado into a financial black hole.
There is no reason for that exchange to exist. It is a duplicate of the federal one. How many bureaucracies do we need, all doing the same thing?
Your "strike-thru" remarks are what keeps me coming back for more CO Peak Poli!! 😛