So you decided to be a good citizen and go on HealthCare.gov to get that ObamaCare. You make upwards of $50,000 a year, which is decent but not so much that you can't get a subsidy in the age of Obama. So you figure you'll find out what your subsidy is and sign up.
But imagine your surprise when HealthCare.gov informs you that you are eligible for Medicaid! This, of course, renders you ineligible for any ObamaCare subsidy - although you're welcome to pay full price if you like. But there's another small problem. You are not eligible for Medicaid. But because HealthCare.gov thinks you are, there's no way you can get your ObamaCare subsidy unless you, er, "file an appeal" with the system.
And if you call and talk to a navigator to try to resolve the problem? Um, yeah . . . USA Today reports:
Jessica Waltman, top lobbyist for the National Association of Health Underwriters, says she's heard a number of reports from around the country of people making as much as $80,000 a year being told they qualify for Medicaid on HealthCare.gov.
"I have heard on multiple occasions from brokers in various states over the past eight weeks that they have had wacky Medicaid determinations with people who clearly make way too much money for Medicaid," she says.
HealthCare.gov is "working smoothly for the vast majority of users," says Peters, but she noted some people may have technical difficulties or complicated family or tax situations that require extra assistance.
HHS has added more call center employees and in-person assistants for people who need extra help, she says.
But insurance brokers say that when people call the HealthCare.gov "800" number to explain that they can't possibly be eligible for Medicaid, they are told they are eligible if the site says so.
Right, because nothing could possibly be wrong on HealthCare.gov!
The problem is especially serious for those who have been dropped from their insurance and have pending situations. The story talks about a family that earns $50,000 from a pool installation business - clearly not poor and not eligible for Medicaid, but not in a position to pay the gigantic ObamaCare premiums with the subsidy. Oh, and the wife in the family is pregnant and needs insurance now. Will she have it? Hard to say, since no one involved in this fiasco knows how to resolve the problem.
Before ObamaCare was implemented, this family was all set. Now their lives have been thrown into chaos. Just a glitch, eh?
