US government to investigate health insurance subsidy abuse

health insurance news

Government regulators are looking to uncover potential fraud

health insurance newsHundreds of thousands of people throughout the U.S. are being contacted by the federal government. The government is questioning these people about their eligibility for the subsidies provided by the Affordable Care Act. According to the Obama administration, a large portion of those seeking coverage through health insurance exchanges may have provided misleading or false information concerning their incomes. This information does not match that which is stored with the Internal Revenue Service, which calls into question whether or not subsidies are being abused.

2 million people to be questioned by the federal government

Approximately 8 million people signed up for coverage through insurance exchanges in the U.S. Of these, an estimated 2 million offered up financial information that does not match current government records. These people may have been looking for a way to take advantage of the subsidies being offered by the Affordable Care Act, but there is also a possibility that the technical flaws of state-based exchanges caused some problems while people were inputting their information online. Whatever the case may be, federal officials are currently seeking answers from the 2 million people with information discrepancies.

Regulators are seeking more information from those receiving government subsidies

Currently, regulators are asking those that have signed up for coverage through exchanges and received subsidies to submit more information in order to verify their income. Regulators are also looking for citizenship and immigration information, as well as Social Security numbers. Many of those that have enrolled in exchanges also already had health insurance coverage, but not through any federal program like Medicaid. This could hint as a person’s financial capabilities, especially if the coverage they had in the past was somewhat expensive.

Subsidy issue may be difficult to resolve due to problems with insurance exchanges

Those that are found to be abusing subsidies could face wide range of penalties, which may include criminal fraud charges. Repercussions may not be the same for everyone, however, as it will be difficult to determine whether or not people had been attempting to abuse subsidies on purpose. It is possible that the technical problems of exchanges contributed to this issue.

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