Sebelius Says She’s Unsure Americans Can Buy Plans that Do Not Cover Abortion

SHIMKUS: "Have you ever shopped, I know you have, but this is for a, at a grocery store with a coupon? Ever used a coupon?"
SEBELIUS: "Yes."
SHIMKUS: "So the coupon gives you the terms and conditions of when you go to the checkout to get whatever's off the price of the goods. When you all added the 'See Plans Now' option, you, in essence, gave the searcher, in essence, a coupon based upon what they are seeing there. The desire was, let people know what the price is. However, as the news reported, and I followed up in last week's hearing, was that if you are under 50 years old, you get quoted the price of someone who's 27. If you're older than 50, could be 64, you get quoted the price of someone who's 50 years old. Isn't that misleading?"
SEBELIUS: "Sir, the learn site of the website, which has been out since actually, um, late--"
SHIMKUS: "--So that's truthful, then, if you quote a price--"
SEBELIUS: "--It is clearly a hypothetical situation that allows people --"
SHIMKUS: "--Okay, on the 'See Plans Now' option, are you saying, 'This is a hypothetical?' That's not what it says on the site. It says this is the price when you put in your age, and if your age is 49, it quotes you as if you're 27."
SEBELIUS: "Sir, the only way someone can get an accurate information about their price is to get their --"
SHIMKUS: "--Let me ask you another question. When did you decide to use this below 50 at 27 and above 50 at 50 years old, when did you make that decision?"
SEBELIUS: "That was decided by the team--"
SHIMKUS: "--By who? Who made, the problem with this whole debate is y'all won't tell us who made the decisions."
SEBELIUS: "I can tell you, I did not design the site."
SHIMKUS: "Well who? Who made the decision on the 27-year-old quote for someone who's 50?"
SEBELIUS: "I just said I will get you that information."
SHIMKUS: "Thank you. Thank you. Let me go to, because it's misleading, and the White House insists it didn't mislead the public, and [intelligible] found out you did. Let me finish on this debate. It's another transparency issue. If someone, a constituent of mine or someone in this country, has strongly held pro-life views, can you commit to us to make sure that the federal exchanges that offer that is clearly identified and so people can understand if they are going to buy a policy that has abortion coverage or not? Because right now, you cannot make that determination."
SEBELIUS: "Sir, I don't know. I know exactly the issue you're talking about. I will check and make sure that--"
SHIMKUS: "--Here's, okay thank you--"
SEBELIUS: "--that is clearly identifiable."
SHIMKUS: "Well here's our request. Can you provide for the committee the list of insurers in the federal exchange who do not offer as part of their package abortion coverage?"
SEBELIUS: "I think we can do that, sir."
SHIMKUS: "Well, you should be able to do it."
SEBELIUS: "I just said --"
SHIMKUS: "--No, you said, if we can do it."
SEBELIUS: "No, I think we can do that is what I said."
SHIMKUS: "I think or I know we can do it?"
SEBELIUS: "Sir, I can't tell you what I don't know firmly right now, I know that is the plan, I will get that information to you."