The White House may still be claiming that 8 million have signed up for Obamacare on the health care exchanges (though all 8 million have yet to submit their premiums), but at least two million of those people who applied for health insurance under the new law will have to wait a little bit longer.
According to the Associated Press, Congress received a presentation about Obamacare data discrepancies, which concern such things as income, immigration status, citizenship and employment, all of which impact whether applicants are able to get insurance and whether the government will have to pay for health insurance at all. About two million people may find themselves having their eligibility re-evaluated or facing down a mountain of government paperwork.
More than 2 million people who got health insurance under President Barack Obama’s law have data discrepancies that could jeopardize coverage for some, a government document shows.
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.
Unfortunately, if you’re one of the two million, it might take a while to process your updated application. The system is still experiencing wait times and functionality problems according to the company currently processing the discrepancies by hand, and that makes it hard to get through the pile of problems the system itself created. The law gives the government 90 days to resolve the problem, but knowing the government 90 days will likely be a mere suggestion.
Even worse, many of the people who received subsidies may have them reduced or taken away, which isn’t great news to receive this week, considering that insurance companies are looking to hike Obamacare premiums in more states as the system overloads. Some policyholders may see premium hikes in the double digits.