The chairmen of two House committees on Wednesday demanded that the IRS answer whether foreign diplomats working in the United States are getting health insurance under Obamacare that is being subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.
Ways & Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said their committees are currently investigating this question, after being told that subsidies are being provided under the so-called Affordable Care Act.
"The Secretary of Health and Human Services has informed the Committee on Foreign Affairs that, if they meet basic ACA requirements, 'a foreign diplomat could satisfy the statutory criteria to be eligible for a premium tax credit and cost-sharing reductions,' " they wrote to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
"The State Department has gone so far as to advertise to foreign missions, permanent missions to the United Nations, and the United Nations secretariat that health care exchanges and 'the benefits of the United States Affordable Care act are available' to them," they added.
Camp and Royce said foreign diplomats should be able to buy insurance in the United States. "We do not, however, believe that American taxpayers should subsidize these services," they wrote.
The letter said that both the State Department and HHS have said they don't know how many foreign diplomats are getting taxpayer subsidies for their Obamacare plans, which is why they are asking the IRS.
Specifically, they asked how many diplomats are getting premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions under Obamacare. They also asked how much that is costing taxpayers, and which countries are benefitting from the subsidies.
The letter asked the IRS for this information by November 12. Read it here:
