Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Obamacare Incompetence

Illegal Aliens Received $750 Million in Taxpayer-Funded Obamacare Subsidies

A new Senate report found that illegal aliens wrongly benefited from nearly a billion dollars in Obamacare subsidies, leaving the government scrambling to recoup the money. (Fox News, Feb. 8, 2016; see Chairman Johnson Press Release)

The report, released by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, examined the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s (CMS) practice of distributing cost assistance in the form tax credits to Obamacare enrollees. (Fox News, Feb. 8, 2016) Chairman Johnson’s inquiry found that, as of June 2015, the administration awarded approximately $750 million in tax credits to more than 500,000 individuals who were later determined to be ineligible because they failed to verify their citizenship, status as a national, or legal presence. (Id.)

CMS confirmed that, in 2015, 471,000 Obamacare enrollees failed to verify their citizenship or immigration status within the required time period. (Id.) According to CMS spokesman Aaron Albright, "lack of verification does not mean an individual is ineligible for financial assistance, but only that a Marketplace did not receive sufficient information to verify eligibility in the time period outlined in the law." (Id.) Federal law allows subsidy payments on a temporary basis if a recipient’s citizenship or immigration status is unclear. (Id.)

However, if the recipient is still unable to come up with documentation proving his or her legal status, coverage is suspended and the IRS is supposed to collect overpayments from the wrongly-covered individual. (Id.) The Senate report dubbed this costly approach "pay and chase" and predicted that, due to a lack of interagency coordination and planning, the IRS will be unable to fully recoup the funds. (Id.)


http://www.fairus.org/legislative-updates/legislative-update-2-16-2016#1

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