Health care law works against honest people

This is regarding Andrew Rieder’s comment of Sept. 18, that Rep. Peter Roskam misled him on the health care law subsidies. Mr. Roskam’s letter does not appear to be as deceitful as stated. It is true that under the new law there is supposed to be a verification of income and other employment factors before a health care subsidy is given. However, just as it did with the employer mandate, the administration buried a change in the regulations right before the July 4 holiday. The change delayed the implementation of these anti-fraud procedures for a year because the administrative systems to process them are not ready. The new regulation change was discovered by two Washington Post reporters who monitor the Federal Register.

Since that discovery, Equifax has been trying to work out a system with the government to do some of the monitoring. The administration admits this will not plug all the holes and people will be on the honor system to tell the truth when they apply. Sadly, we have learned recently that many of the people who apply for food stamps, welfare and free phones have been less than honest and that the government has not been verifying the information they receive. One undercover reporter was able to obtain several free phones and offered other benefits even though she provided information that should have made her ineligible.

Just this past week, a new report emerged showing that people applying for Social Security Disability, which requires a five-month waiting period before receiving benefits, have been awarded benefits immediately after application with very little scrutiny.

It is very discouraging to see that once again this administration works against the honest citizens whose taxes and now insurance premiums will be used to fund all these government programs filled with fraud and abuse.

Karen Gabbert

Arlington Heights