The AP recently posted an article with updated figures on those that
enrolled in the health insurance exchanges during the first open
enrollment period.

According to the article, “More than 2 million people who got
health insurance under [the Affordable Care Act] have data
discrepancies that could jeopardize coverage…About 1 in 4
people who signed up have discrepancies, creating a huge paperwork
jam for the feds and exposing some consumers to repayment demands,
or possibly even loss of coverage, if they got too generous a subsidy.”

Of course, administration officials are confident that most
discrepancies can be resolved over the summer…probably the same
officials that were confident the system would work correctly in
the first place….

Even with this confidence, “HHS has set up a system to “turn off”
benefits for anyone who is found to be ineligible.”

The article further states that:

Julie Bataille, communications coordinator for the health care rollout, said most of the discrepancies appear to be due to outdated information in government files – and the “vast majority” of cases are being resolved in favor of consumers. The government is making an all-out effort to reach those with discrepancies, which officials have termed “inconsistencies.”

“The fact that a consumer has an inconsistency on their application does not mean there is a problem on their enrollment,” said Bataille. “Most of the time what that means is that there is more up-to-date information that they need to provide to us.”

The law contemplated there would be verification problems with the new program, and provided for a 90-day window to clear up discrepancies. During this time, a consumer’s coverage is not affected.

About 60 percent of all the people with discrepancies are still within that 90-day period, said Bataille.

Atop the priority list are citizenship and immigration issues, then annual income.

The HHS inspector general is expected to deliver a report to Congress later this summer on how well the administration is doing at preventing inaccurate payments and fraud.

Did you enroll in the health insurance exchange (here in California, it’s called Covered CA)?

If so, have you been asked to provide additional information?

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PS  Interestingly, the information on the HHS facebook page doesn’t seem to mention “discrepancies”….