Consumers Asked To Verify Income, Other Information — Or Risk Losing Government Subsidies For Health Insurance

Luis Martinez of Hialeah, FL, survived two heart attacks during the more than 10 years that he went without health insurance.  So he was relieved to finally find coverage on the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchange in March, two weeks before the enrollment deadline.

But four months after he and his wife signed up for a subsidized, bronze-level health plan with Coventry, Martinez, 51, said he feels as though he has fallen into a black hole of government bureaucracy while trying to prove his income and his wife’s citizenship in order to keep their coverage, part of a national effort to verify policyholders’ eligibility...So far, officials with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are not satisfied with his response.

...About eight million people signed up for a health plan through the ACA exchanges. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 85 percent of them were eligible for financial aid, and the government is expected to deliver about $10 billion in subsidies during the first year.  Healthcare analysts say some consumers will end up paying higher monthly premiums as a result of the verification process, while others may have to repay some or all of their subsidies if they are found to be ineligible.  But for some, like Martinez, the verification process has become a maze of red tape...