Implementing Health Reform: Recent Reports Present Conflicting Pictures Of ACA Implementation

Two recent government reports present conflicting pictures of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). On July 16, 2015, Government Accountability Office (GAO) testimony before the Senate Finance Committee entitled Observations on 18 Undercover Tests of Enrollment Controls for Health-Care Coverage and Consumer Subsidies Provided under the Act presents a dismal picture of bungling by the federally facilitated marketplaces (FFMs) in the handling of fictitious applications submitted by the GAO in an undercover investigation. On the other hand, the National Taxpayer Advocate’s mid-year report, released on July 15, 2015 reports that “Overall, the IRS has done a commendable job of implementing the first stages” of the ACA. The report contains data from 2014 tax filings related to premium tax credits and to individual responsibility penalties. The Processing Of Fictitious Applications The GAO report updates testimony submitted to Congress by GAO in July of 2014. In the Spring of 2014, during the first open enrollment period, the GAO submitted a dozen fictitious applications for coverage to the FFMs in three states. A quarter of the applications provided no Social Security number, half submitted invalid Social Security numbers, and a quarter purported to be from noncitizens claiming to be lawfully present in the U.S. Half of the applications were submitted online and half were submitted by telephone. All of factitious applications submitted online were blocked at th...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage Payment Policy Population Health Free File Alliance GAO HHS IRS National Taxpayer Advocate Report premium tax credits Timothy Jost Source Type: blogs