22,000 insurance policies appeals filed on Healthcare.gov, 0 resolved
Four months after the launch of HealthCare.gov, Americans are still having a hard time getting answers about the correct coverage they need.
Four months after the launch of HealthCare.gov, Americans are still having a hard time getting answers about the correct coverage they need.
Although more than 2 million people have signed up for coverage under Obamacare by now, tens of thousands of Americans have discovered that the federally run exchange site made mistakes when they signed up. While the government is aware of these errors, they have not been able to fix them yet, which is forcing many consumers to overpay or is leaving them without any coverage, according to a recent report from The Washington Post.
The Post obtained internal government data that found that about 22,000 Americans have filed appeals with the government to try to get these errors fixed.
"They contend that the computer system for the new federal online marketplace charged them too much for health insurance, steered them into the wrong insurance program or denied them coverage entirely," writes Amy Goldstein of The Washington Post.
But the appeals don't seem to be going anywhere for the time being, as The Post says they're just sitting inside a government computer and are not being looked at.
Consumers who have called the healthcare marketplace directly have been told that Healthcare.gov's computer system is not allowing federal workers to change enrollment records yet, according to individuals inside and outside the government who are familiar with the situation.
The Obama administration has not yet publicly announced the glitches with the appeal system. However, a U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) spokesman told The Post, "We are working to fully implement the appeals system."
CMS is telling consumers to just start over on Healthcare.gov in the meantime as they work to resolve the issues.