According to The Associated Press, more than 2 million Americans who signed up for health insurance benefits through the federal and state insurance marketplaces during the open enrollment period have discrepancies in their data, which puts their coverage at risk.
The AP noted that it was given this information by the Department of Health and Human Services in a seven-page slide presentation, and numerous congressional committees are looking into the inconsistencies. According to another article on the issue by the AP, the discrepancies are between enrollees' key information and what the government has recorded. Many of these inconsistencies have to do with income and citizenship, and if the problems aren't resolved, it could result in enrollees losing coverage or even their legal rights to benefits, the AP noted.
This issue is causing many workflow challenges for the government; however, the AP reported that even though there are inconsistencies, the majority of the issues are being resolved and are actually benefiting those enrollees.
"The fact that a consumer has an inconsistency on their application does not mean there is a problem on their enrollment," Julie Bataille, communications coordinator for the exchange rollout, said about the AP-provided document. "Most of the time what that means is that there is more up-to-date information that they need to provide to us."