Immigration ‘Inconsistencies’ Pose Huge Problem For ACA
By William Patrick, FloridaWatchdog.org // August 14, 2014
93,800 Florida Obamacare Customers Have Immigration ‘Inconsistencies’
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Almost 100,000 Floridians who signed up for health insurance through the federal health exchange have citizenship or immigration “inconsistencies,” according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
CMS said Tuesday it is sending notices to Obamacare “consumers” whose Social Security numbers, permanent residency card numbers or other related information is either missing from their applications or different than what the government has on file.
The notices tell the exchange participants they have until Sept. 5 to verify their legal status or lose coverage by Sept. 30.
Open enrollment for 2015, however, begins Nov. 15.
Under Obamacare, undocumented immigrants are not supposed to receive health insurance coverage or government subsidies — 91 percent of Florida’s total enrollees receive federal tax credits paid directly to insurance companies, Watchdog previously reported.
The 310,000 enrollees from across the country who received notices this week failed to respond to multiple previous attempts by CMS to verify citizenship or immigration application information.
It’s unknown how many are receiving federal tax credits.
Of those receiving notices, Florida ranks first among the 36 states with federally run health exchanges with 93,800 enrollees yet to comply. Texas, the next highest state, has approximately 52,700.
