Health insurance exchange glitches threaten policies for some consumers

health insurance exchange problems

Despite the fact that many people have resubmitted their citizenship and immigration information, problems continue.

More than 310,000 people across the United States were recently told that they must resubmit their citizenship or immigration documentation to the government by the end of this week in order to prove that they are eligible for the health insurance coverage that they had purchased through the state or federal exchanges, but now they are facing another threat to their protection.

The glitches that remain in the Healthcare.gov site are getting in the way of their ability to comply.

Even though consumers have attempted to resubmit this required information on time, so that there won’t be an interruption – or outright cancellation – in their health insurance coverage, the federal website remains glitchy enough that the information isn’t always being sent as expected. Consumers are finding that they are being required to re-send their information several times, and many are unable to gain any access to their accounts. This, according to experts in immigration law, as well as according to insurance agents.

This problem is becoming quite a large one as the deadline for keeping their health insurance is September 5.

health insurance exchange problemsIf citizenship or immigration status is not confirmed by that time, then those consumers could face the cancellation of their health plans by the end of this month. A spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Aaron Albright, explained that the letters were issued only to consumers for whom the government did not have any documentation with regards to immigration or citizenship. However, agents and other professionals who helped many of the recipients of these letters with their initial enrollments for health coverage say that they are certain that documentation was submitted at that time.

The National Immigration Law Center executive director, Marielena Hincapie, stated that this problem does not originate with the consumer. Instead, she says that the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security federal databases are out of date and have therefore led to a mismatch of the names and social security numbers of those who enrolled in health insurance. Hincapie said that this was particularly problematic among refugees from Africa, whose names have often been transposed.

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