Washington, DC – Hours before The Washington Post ran an editorial entitled “The public deserves a hearing for a Medicare appointee,” the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Sander Levin (D-MI), denied a request from the Committee’s Republican members for such a hearing with recently appointed CMS Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick.  Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI)… Read more

Thank you, Chairman Stark, and I appreciate you calling this hearing to examine efforts to promote the adoption of health information technology. The Stimulus law included $36 billion in incentive payments, largely through deficit spending, for providers who “meaningfully use” electronic health record technology, or EHRs.  Members of this Subcommittee may recall that during the markup of… Read more

If it seems as if the tax code was conceived by graphic artist M.C. Escher, wait until you meet the new and not improved Internal Revenue Service created by ObamaCare. What, you're not already on a first-name basis with your local IRS agent? National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, who operates inside the IRS, highlighted the agency's new mission in her annual report to Congress last week.… Read more

Washington, DC – Ways and Means Republicans today sent a letter to Ways and Means Chairman Sander Levin, requesting a hearing with the recently installed Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Dr. Donald Berwick. The Republicans called for the hearing to learn from Dr. Berwick about how he will oversee the implementation of the health care overhaul and his… Read more

Buried in the Democrats’ trillion dollar health care bill is another small business nightmare. Through an expanded tax filing requirement, Democrats slapped 40 million businesses, charities and other entities with burdensome new paperwork and increased compliance costs. The new rule, set to take effect in 2012, will require small businesses to file a 1099 tax form for every business to… Read more

President Obama and Democrats repeatedly told Americans that if they liked the health plan they have, they can keep it.  Sounds good.  Too bad it’s not true.  As a result of the Democrats’ health care law, residents in Virginia have already lost access to one health care plan and now many residents in Maine could lose theirs as well.  If this trend continues, millions of Americans will… Read more

This Sunday, on NBC’s Meet the Press, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that, "The President is not going to, at a time of economic crisis, raise taxes on the middle class... For middle class Americans, who have borne the brunt of this economic calamity, we're certainly not going to raise taxes on them." Too late. Since January of 2009, President Obama and Congressional… Read more

Washington, DC – Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) today released the following statement in reaction to the announcement that President Obama will make a recess appointment of Dr. Don Berwick as Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “There are one-half trillion dollars of cuts to the Medicare program in the Democrats’ health care law that Dr.… Read more

WASHINGTON - An Internal Revenue Service watchdog warned Wednesday that the burdens on small businesses from a new reporting requirement in the recently passed health-care law may outweigh any benefits from increased tax compliance. About 40 million businesses, charities, and other entities will be required to report payments to vendors starting in 2012, the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service… Read more

The new federal health-care law may pose compliance challenges for taxpayers and the Internal Revenue Service, an IRS ombudsman reported Wednesday. The agency, which will be responsible for administering major aspects of health insurance finance, is neither structured nor funded to effectively oversee social programs, the National Taxpayer Advocate Service said in a news release.… Read more