2.2 Million Obamacare Enrollees With Data Problems Could Lead to Coverage Issues, Report Reveals
Close to 2.2 million people who signed up for Obamacare have inconsistent data issues that could lead to problems with coverage, a report on Wednesday revealed.
Reuters reported that officials have promised that the problems, which stem from consumers imputing data on income, citizenship and immigration questions that is more up to date than federal records, will be sorted out by the end of the summer.
Errors in data that are unaddressed can sometimes lead to demands for repayment and even coverage cancellations, the report by U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said. It specified that 1.2 million people who have filed applications for Obamacare have questionable income data, while 461,000 had issues with citizenship and 505,000 with immigration.
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"A 25 percent error rate is simply unacceptable when it comes to proper use of scarce taxpayer dollars. Even worse, today's announcement once again illustrates how the President's bloated health care law has left American families and taxpayers in financial limbo," said Senator Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
CMS clarified that 59 percent of the applications are 90 days away from resolving the problems, however, and a majority of the cases are supposedly resolved.
"Two million consumers are not at risk of losing coverage – they simply need to work with us in good faith to provide additional information that supports their application for coverage and we are working through these cases expeditiously," CMS spokesman Aaron Albright maintained.
The Affordable Care Act has caused great political division in the U.S. and has been a focal piece of Obama's presidency. It was launched on Oct. 1, 2013, and to mid-April reportedly 8 million people enrolled in private health insurance.
The law has faced criticism, especially with its rollout which was slowed by technical problems on the official website.
In November, Obama admitted that the rollout was "fumbled," and changed the rules to allow Americans to keep their current insurance plans for another year.
"This fix won't solve every problem for every person. But it's going to help a lot of people," the president said then.
"Doing more will require work with Congress. And I've said from the beginning, I'm willing to work with Democrats and Republicans to fix problems as they arise. This is an example of what I was talking about. We can always make this law work better."
