Illegal Immigrants Lose Obamacare Coverage

Just in case you have been following the Obamacare scorecard of who is losing and gaining coverage,

you might have missed this tidbit.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Wednesday that the 200,000 people will be dropped from plans at the end of February. They are in addition to the 112,000 who lost coverage late last year.

"These are individuals who have gone through the process of attempting to confirm their citizenship or immigration status for their 2014 coverage and (despite) repeated outreach we've not received that documentation," said Andy Slavitt, CMS' principal deputy administrator. "So our requirements of enforcing the law will require us to remove these people from our coverage." - USA Today

Did you catch that?

Some 200,000 immigrants got Obamacare health insurance (presumably with taxpayer subsidies) but now are losing it because they can't prove they are here legally.

My question is, why were they given coverage to begin with? Aren't LEGAL residents already in the system somewhere? Employers are required to verify legal resident status or face fines, but the folks who hand out Obamacare like they were Obamaphones apparently aren't subject to the same standards.

Immigrant advocates, who have had some of the biggest successes in enrollment on the federal health care exchange, said it was unfair. 

Yes it is unfair.

If you don't qualify you should not receive the coverage from the start.

Stupidest Idea of the Year: An Early Frontrunner

Long Term Care insurance (LTCi) is arguably the single most complicated product we sell (tied perhaps only with Disability Income plans). It has a lot of moving parts, a very specific market niche, and is easily misunderstood. Underwriting is particularly involved because, unlike, say, life insurance, there can be multiple claims of varying degrees. The tax implications can be confusing and complicated, particularly for business owners. There are different ways that carriers count off their elimination periods, and how they price and define shared plans. And so on.

So naturally, Rocket Surgeon Paul Forte, CEO of some outfit called Long Term Care Partners L.L.C, thinks it would be a grand idea to market LTCi plans through Exchanges modeled on the ever-so-successful 404Care.gov site.

Really!

One can see why he'd like that to happen: his company is the admin for two major Federal insurance programs, and one can never have too much of that sweet, sweet gummint largesse. That they would no longer feel the need for, oh, agents or underwriting is just icing, really.

Wait, what?

No, seriously:

"Allowing some medical underwriting could hold down costs without leading to a rate spiral, and keeping costs low could help make a big exchange sustainable even without the help of a mandate."

Yes, he's proposing the "Affordable Long Term Care Act" - because we've seen just how successful the ACA has been in reducing costs, not to mention folks' access to actual care.  And did you notice that interesting little turn of phrase: "help of a mandate?"

Remember when we were warned, during the initial SCOTUS fight, that if the government can force us to buy health insurance, they can force us to buy anything? That was dismissed as silly then.

Still sound silly now?

Didn't think so.

But wait, there's more:

"Forte would further reduce costs by putting the LTCI exchange system under the jurisdiction of the federal government, not state governments"

Yes, because Lord knows that the Feds are well-known for reining in costs and keeping to a tight budget. Heck, I bet he could reduce the cost of Long Term Care insurance by 3000%.

And what about that whole direct-to-the-public marketing scheme? Let's unpack that a bit:

"Those objecting to what they think will be lost by foregoing the services of live agents should recognize that the ALTCIP would not be geared to high-net-worth individuals, but rather to moderate-income persons seeking better value"

Well first, Mr Genius, high net worth folks already have plans in place, and many can afford to self-insure. They're also likely to have easy access to loads of expert advisors and financial planners. Long Term Care coverage is specifically geared towards middle class folks who don't have that kind of access, and to whom, for example, the Partnership Program is a real boon (does he seriously think that high net worth individuals worry about Medicaid spend-down?). These are exactly the kinds of folks who need agents to help them understand the difference between, for example, service and calendar days.

There is literally nothing positive or useful in this proposal; it is simply an embarrassingly naked attempt to grab a few more DC dollars, and to further damage the middle class.

Wonder if he thanked Ms Bell for the free advertising.

Health Wonk Review: VD edition is up...

VD as in Valentine's Day. Peggy Salvatore has a new blog (WooHoo!), and this week's eclectic round-up of health care policy and polity.

It's chock full of great posts - Sweet!

I can't wait!

In email from HHS:

[click picture to embiggen]

And because I'm a giver, here's the link to register. Have fun, and try not to trash the place, m'kay?

Another 1,000 Words on ObamaCare

Hello, This is Peggy

Do you ever wonder who is actually on the other end of the line when you call hc.gov? What kind of training

do they have? Am I getting the right answer? If not, can I call back and ask for Peggy?

"You can call HealthCare.gov three different times and get three different answers," - USA Today

Well that's refreshing. At least they are honest about it.

Being locked out of one's account can be extremely frustrating, especially for some of the low-wage workers who have very limited time to deal with their insurance, navigators said. But some of the problems — such as lapses in insurance coverage for sick relatives — can infuriate people.

Call-center workers have become much more proficient at unlocking consumers' accounts this year, which remains an issue because many people forget their passwords, user names or both, said Cardenas. Last year, the workers would tell people to just create new accounts, which tended to create more confusion and is a particularly bad idea this year for those re-enrolling, she said.

Considering you can't get a subsidy without going through goodluck.gov I would say getting locked out of your account is a major concern.

So, who you gonna call when you have a problem?

Ronnell Nolan, who heads Health Agents for America in Baton Rouge, said she and some of her members long suspected call-center workers weren't giving them their own names. Nolan recalls dealing with someone who went by what sounded like the same name as actress Halle Berry. Turns out, they don't use their own names — and it's with good reason, said CMS spokesman Aaron Albright,

Representatives use aliases and won't disclose their location .

So much for transparency in government.

Buckeye Medicaid Dumping

Glancing into his crystal ball in 2009, co-blogger Mike had some harsh words for the folks running Medicaid:

"Why has Medicaid failed to protect the poor? Medicaid is the government program expressly established to provide adequate medical insurance for the poor. Why is it not doing so? Why has our government left so many of the poor without access to medical insurance?"

Flash forward 5 years or so, and we find that not much has changed:

"Medicaid could dump 500,000 Ohioans in 6 months ... All are poised to lose benefits for failing to submit information needed to confirm that their household income falls within Medicaid eligibility guidelines."

And of course, this redounds negatively on Gov Kasich's (foolish) decision to expand the program, multiplying the effects.

So what's the problem?

There are several, actually:

First, all of these folks are required to "re qualify" annually; that is, to prove that their economic woes haven't let up. That they failed to do so is, ultimately, on them. But the state, having initially approved them does have an obligation to remind them of this requirement. The traditional method is via snail mail, but some of these "Some problems ... may have been caused by apartment numbers being placed above recipient’s names on envelopes, preventing them from being delivered."

Oops.

And the notices, written (as is appropriate) in English, went to at least some folks who "speak other languages." I would say that's their problem, not the taxpayers'. And up to a third of the notices were returned as "undeliverable."

Lovely.

Talk about burying the lede, though:

"About 2.9 million poor Ohioans receive Medicaid."

Given that the state is home to just shy of 12 million people, has it occurred to someone in charge that having 25% of your population on Medicaid might indicate just a wee little problem?

Way to go, Guv.

[Hat Tip: Co-blogger Bob V]