115,000 People Lose Health Care Policies Due to Immigration Status in the U.S

The Obama administration announced that approximately115,000 people in 36 states in the U.S, due to data problems with either their citizenship problems or immigration status face loss of health care coverage under the federal marketplace.

An additional 363,000 people may find their premiums change due to issues with the income data which is used to decide which of the consumers are eligible for federal subsidies that help to keep premiums low in the federal insurance marketplace. Officials from the Medicare Centers and Medicaid Services, which operate the marketplace said the numbers have dropped significantly than what they were during the enrollment period in June. Under the Affordable Care Act, people who have their immigration status clear can buy health insurance in the federal marketplace. Subsidies will be made available according to the person's annual income.

2.5 million of the 8 million who applied for coverage through the federal marketplace were found to have missing entries or data or details in their data which did not match the federal data records.

Officials of Obamacare also admitted to the possibility of many enrollees who had not supplied accurate information of their situation or failure to respond. Federal administration could foresee problems as there were almost 430,000 people with discrepancies to their reported income, which were being resolved. People could avoid all problems by supplying up-to-date information before the 30th of September.

Those with citizenship and immigration issues could apply for a special enrollment and supply their status after the given deadline.

References:

David Morgan, September 2014

Hannah Punitha (IRDA Licence Number: 2710062)

Source: Medindia