Phony Applicants Approved For Subsidies And Allowed To Re-Enroll On Healthcare.gov
A congressional watchdog filed fictitious applications last year, 11 of which were enrolled for Obamacare despite fake documents or missing information. The report raises concerns about the federal health exchange's ability to detect fraud.
The Wall Street Journal:
Federal Health Exchange Approved Fake Claims
The federal exchange set up under the Affordable Care Act allowed fictitious applicants to maintain coverage and re-enroll this year, according to a report by a congressional watchdog group that raises questions about the marketplace’s ability to detect fraud. The exchange, HealthCare.gov, last year approved 11 fictitious applications submitted in an undercover operation by the Government Accountability Office, according to the report released Wednesday by the agency. (Armour, 7/15)
The Associated Press:
Probe: Bogus Enrollees Kept Getting 'Obamacare'
Phony applicants that investigators signed up last year under President Barack Obama's health care law got automatically re-enrolled for 2015. Some were rewarded with even bigger taxpayer subsidies for their insurance premiums, a congressional probe has found. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says 11 counterfeit characters that its investigators created last year were automatically re-enrolled by HealthCare.gov, even though most had unresolved documentation issues. In Obama's terms, they got to keep the coverage they had. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/15)
CNN Money:
Fake Enrollees Keep Getting Obamacare Subsidies
The federal Obamacare exchange, known as Healthcare.gov, did not catch 11 fictitious policyholders who were enrolled last year as part of an undercover investigation by the Government Accountability Office. The watchdog agency last summer announced that it had created 12 fake identities and 11 were able to sign up for coverage, qualifying for a total of $2,500 a month in subsidies. An update to the probe found that all 11 enrollees had their coverage automatically extended for 2015. Republican lawmakers released the new information Wednesday ahead of a Congressional hearing on Obamacare controls. (Luhby, 7/15)