Obama Administration Terminates 430K Health Care Plans, Citing Unresolved Immigration Status and Citizenship Inconsistencies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 9, 2015

CONTACT
Andrea Alford, [email protected], 703-477-1075
Nery Espinosa, [email protected], 214-263-1294

Obama Administration Terminates 430K Health Care Plans, Citing Unresolved Immigration Status and Citizenship Inconsistencies

National Immigration Law Center demands HHS fix immigration status and citizenship verification process

WASHINGTON —The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced yesterday that, this year alone, 430,000 individuals who shopped for health insurance in the federal Obamacare Marketplace were stripped of their health care plans due to unresolved immigration status or citizenship inconsistencies. Last year, HHS terminated approximately 212,000 Marketplace plans for the same reason. Since then, immigrants’ rights and health care groups have been asking HHS for more detailed information and data related to these types of data-matching problems but have yet to receive a satisfactory response from the Obama administration.

Below is a statement from Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center:

“With the third year of open enrollment for Obamacare around the corner, there is absolutely no excuse for any eligible American family to be denied or lose their health care coverage as a result of HHS’s ongoing systemic failings. The majority of these immigrants attempted, often repeatedly, to submit the appropriate documentation needed to resolve the inconsistencies but faced barriers such as not being notified about what they needed to submit in a language they could understand. As a result, thousands of immigrants who depend on these plans for their health and wellbeing have lost their plans for avoidable reasons that have not been adequately addressed by HHS.

“For more than a year we have been working tirelessly to secure information about the agency’s verification process, and have yet to receive a satisfactory response from either HHS or the Obama administration. It is unacceptable that HHS has failed to address a flawed system that keeps too many eligible immigrants and their families from accessing the care they deserve and rely on. The problem must be addressed and rectified immediately so that immigrant mothers, fathers, and workers can get the health care they need.”

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