Thread: Citizenship Required for Health Care, Deadline Looming

Citizenship Required for Health Care, Deadline Looming

Thousands of immigrants face a Sept. 5 deadline to file citizenship.

Immigrants who are in the country illegally are not eligible to receive insurance subsidies or to sign up for health care under the Affordable Care Act.

By Kimberly LeonardSept. 4, 2014 | 5:23 p.m. EDT+ More

About 200,000 people who are receiving health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, could lose their coverage at the end of the month if they do not submit proof of their immigration status or citizenship by Friday. Though all those affected will be able to try to enroll through health care exchanges again in mid-November, when open enrollment begins, they still will not have health care coverage for at least six weeks.

Under the health care law, immigrants who are in the country illegally are not eligible to receive insurance subsidies or to sign up for the program.

The Obamacare deadline comes amid the possibility as to whether President Barack Obama will sidestep Congress and use executive order to grant amnesty to as many as 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. A survey released yesterday from the Pew Research Center showed that 33 percent of adults believe the priority for immigration should be on better border security and tougher laws, while 23 percent favor amnesty.

It is estimated that more than half of all immigrants in the country illegally do not have health insurance, while the rest have been able to sign up through student health plans, employer-based insurance, private insurance or other methods. The prospect of U.S. taxpayers footing the bill for health insurance for illegal immigrants has been a specter raised by conservatives who oppose Obamacare, despite the attempt by Democrats to make it clearly illegal under the law.

[READ: Can Obamacare Succeed Without Subsidies?]

Those at risk of losing health care coverage from the Affordable Care Act are not necessarily undocumented or ineligible: There typically has been data inconsistency that needs to be resolved. In some cases, a reported Social Security or Permanent Resident Card number doesn't match the information the government has on file, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency overseeing the details of the health law. A data inconsistency may not mean there's a problem with someone's eligibility to enroll, CMS says, but it does mean they need additional information to accept the application. If documents are not received by Sept. 5, however, thousands of people will lose their health insurance.

People who have submitted their information and are waiting for it to be processed will continue to receive coverage until a confirmation is made. Anyone who could be found ineligible will owe the government a portion of the subsidies they were receiving under Obamacare, which could amount to thousands of dollars, according to some reports. Aaron Albright, a CMS spokesman, says no one who has filed information has lost his or her coverage so far.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a statement in mid-August saying it had already accepted 450,000 submissions and that 210,000 other applications were in progress.

The agency also continued to receive up to 60,000 a day, according to a statement. Albright says the agency has received additional documentation from 70,000 people as of the end of August.

The federal agency says it has been trying to reach affected people from five to seven times – by email, mail and telephone, in both English and Spanish. The information they provide people with includes instructions on how to submit the proper paperwork to keep their coverage. People who received a notification should log in to HealthCare.gov account and select their application to upload their documents, or they can call 800-318-2596.

[REPORT: Obamacare, Boomers, Recession Slowing Medicare Cost]

Some immigration advocacy groups have expressed concern over whether outreach has been sufficient, pointing out that some people have faced barriers to submitting information. Not everyone has access to the Internet, for instance, and technical glitches on Healthcare.gov can impede people's ability to upload documents that demonstrate they are legally in the country, and therefore eligible to receive coverage or subsidies. The government also changed passwords to Healthcare.gov in April, which caused some confusion.

Consumers have reported submitting documents repeatedly, whether through Healthcare.gov or through the postal service, and still are receiving notifications that their information is incomplete or inconsistent, says Sinsi Hernández-Cancio, director of health equity for Families USA, an organization that seeks health care equality for Americans. ​

"Anecdotally, we know that people are throwing away the letters because they think it's a scam," she says.

Language access has also been an issue, she says, because the outreach is only in Spanish and English, though U.S. immigrants speak dozens of other languages.

Steven Lopez​, senior policy analyst for the Health Policy Project at the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights group, says he thinks the federal health agency is making a concerted effort to increase awareness through the contact information they have available. Lopez's group is helping to amplify the message so consumers can understand the urgency of the situation, he says.

The organization has targeted Florida and Texas in particular, he says, because half of those who haven't submitted information live in those states.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/...alth-insurance

Covered Calif. reaches out to nearly 100,000 families at risk of losing health insurance

Stephanie O'Neill
3 hours ago

Covered California officials say nearly 100,000 California families are at risk of losing their health insurance if they don't soon provide the state with proof of lawful residency. JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES



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California's marketplace for health insurance is urging nearly 98,000 families that have yet to prove their lawful residence in the state to do so by the end of September, or risk losing their new health coverage.

The notices being sent to the families outline the documents required to maintain their insurance policies and any subsidies they may be receiving.
Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee says in some cases people had sent the proper documents but the paperwork was illegible, or they were required to send two pieces of proof, and they had only sent one.

Covered California says any documentation sent to the state will be used only to determine a person’s eligibility for health insurance programs and not for immigration enforcement.

Those who don’t comply by September 30th risk losing both their insurance coverage and any federal tax subsidies they now receive that lower their monthly premiums.

What's more, Covered California officials say, those found ineligible for subsidies already received may be required to pay back those tax credits.

The qualifying documents that prove lawful presence include:

• A U.S. passport
• A certificate of naturalization (N-550/N-570)
• A certificate of citizenship (N-560/N-561)
• A U.S. public birth certificate
• A driver’s license issued by a U.S. state or territory
• An identification card issued by the federal, state or local government
• A school identification card
• A foreign passport
• A green card

http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/09/05/...PCC%3A+News%29