10K Covered California Enrollees Fail To Verify Immigration Status

On Monday, Covered California announced that the majority of enrollees who were asked to verify their legal presence in the state did so by a Sept. 30 deadline, but about 10,000 individuals failed to verify their residency and will receive pre-termination letters from the state insurance exchange, KPCC's "KPCC News" reports (O'Neill, "KPCC News," KPCC, 10/13).

Background

In July, HHS' Office of Inspector General released a report finding that the federal government and Covered California failed to properly verify eligibility for exchange enrollees, including by not always confirming U.S. citizenship.

In August, CMS sent letters to about 310,000 U.S. residents who enrolled in coverage through the federal insurance exchange warning that if they do no submit documents to verify their citizenship or immigration statuses by Sept. 5, they could lose the coverage they purchased through the federal health insurance exchange.

The move did not affect state-run exchanges. However, Covered California officials later said the state's insurance exchange would follow the federal government's example and require about 100,000 families to verify their lawful presence in the country in order to retain health insurance they obtained through the marketplace (California Healthline, 9/5).

Details of Verification

Covered California has received proof of legal presence for more than 82,000 families, representing 130,105 individuals. Officials said they are still reviewing the documents of 6,700 additional families who have provided information ("KPCC News," KPCC, 10/13).

Meanwhile, 9,645 families -- representing 10,474 individuals -- have failed to verify their lawful presence in the U.S. As a result, they soon will receive pre-termination notices from the exchange.

The notices will include information on how to reacquire their coverage after it has been canceled. Final notices of cancellation will be sent by insurers.

In a statement, Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee said, "We are hopeful that anyone receiving these notices will respond by providing appropriate documents so we can work with them to ensure their ongoing eligibility for health coverage" (Ibarra, Merced Sun-Star, 10/13).