Trump official dodges Obamacare questions at tense hearing

Washington — In her first appearance before a Democratic-led House committee, Seema Verma, the head of the agency that oversees the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, spent hours dodging questions about the current and future state of the U.S. health care system.

Lawmakers grilled Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, on the future of Obamacare, the landmark 2010 law whose fate remains uncertain. Although the executive branch typically defends federal laws in court, the Trump administration earlier this year joined a lawsuit brought by Republican state attorneys general that seeks to strike down the law.

The title of Wednesday's hearing before the oversight subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee set a tense tone. It was called "Sabotage: The Trump Administration's Attack on Health Care."

The ACA pushed the number of Americans with health coverage to historic highs. But since President Trump took office, his administration and Republicans in Congress have made a series of changes that undermine the law, such as repealing the individual mandate that required people to have health insurance, limiting the amount of time people who have to sign up for health care, drastically cutting the budget for Obamacare outreach and allowing states to enact work requirements as a condition of Medicaid eligibility.

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