Dive Brief:
- A change in government processes has resulted in more than 400,000 individuals having their health insurance canceled because of immigration and citizenship issues, reports The Associated Press.
- The ACA specifies U.S. citizens and legal residents are entitled to healthcare coverage through the markets that offer subsidized premiums.
- According to The Associated Press, the National Immigration Law Center says it believes most of the 423,000 individuals with canceled health coverage are legal U.S. residents and citizens involved in an “inefficient system for checking documents.”
Dive Insight:
In 2014, there was no window of opportunity for resolving documentation issues involving citizenship as it marked the first year of HealthCare.gov’s coverage market expansion. This year, the ACA provides a 95-day resolution window.
Last year, "we had the authority to provide consumers more flexibility — we were not taking action on the strict timeline," said Ben Wakana, an HHS spokesman, told The Associated Press. "In 2015, we moved to the timeline of about three months, so consumers need to act quickly to submit supporting documentation."
The 423,000 individuals only come from states utilizing the federal HealthCare.gov. The figure may be higher as it does not include information from California and New York, which have their own insurance market exchanges.