Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) promised on Monday to block the confirmation of two key Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) nominees until the cabinet agency explains the sudden collapse of nine state health-insurance co-ops set up under Obamacare.

“I will act to block consideration and nomination of every HHS nominee until the families who lost their co-op insurance plan get straight answers,” Sasse wrote in a statement to reporters, calling the rapid breakdown of the program in multiple states a “systemic failure.”

Created as a consolation prize for progressives seeking a public option as part of Obamacare, nonprofit health-care co-ops were set up in 23 states in order to compete with larger, for-profit insurance companies. But federal funding for the program withered several years ago, and in many states co-ops have struggled to remain solvent in competitive insurance markets.

Colorado, Oregon, Tennessee, and Kentucky all saw their co-ops go under in the last two weeks, adding to a list of failures that already included Iowa, New York, Nevada, Louisiana, and Nebraska. Hundreds of thousands of enrollees have lost their health-care plans as a result of the collapses. And the Obama administration acknowledges that other state co-ops remain shaky and could soon go under.

#related#Sasse has tried to determine why the co-op program is failing since May, but said he has yet to receive a sufficient response from HHS secretary Sylvia Burwell’s office. He sent a letter to Burwell’s office on August 6 that included nine specific questions about the program, but hasn’t received an answer.

The department is currently awaiting Senate confirmation for two important nominees — Karen DeSalvo as assistant HHS secretary and Andy Slavitt as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — that Sasse has the power to stall.

— Brendan Bordelon is a political reporter for National Review.

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