HealthCare.gov still isn’t working well enough for customers to fix problems with their Obamacare applications, according to a new report.
The administration has given 310,000 HealthCare.gov customers until next week to submit documentation to prove their citizenship and immigration status, but ongoing glitches are preventing many customers from actually submitting the documents. USA Today reports that some customers have to send in their documentation multiple times, while others still can’t access their accounts, according to insurance agents and immigration law experts.
The federal health-care website is still suffering from many of the same problems with accounts that consumers faced last fall, when the furor over the failed exchange was at its highest. Accessing accounts was one of the biggest problems for customers last fall, before the tech surge that claimed to fix the consumer-facing portions of the website.
In addition, federal officials reset all HealthCare.gov passwords in April in response to a security threat, which could make it more difficult for some customers to access their account.
But some customers have told insurance agents that they’ve submitted additional documentation to verify their legal residency multiple times, and still the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says the administration has no record of it.
“It’s scary because they’ve sent it in numerous times and different ways, and CMS is saying it doesn’t have it,” insurance agent Ronnell Nolan told USA Today. “What are all those people going to do? It’s going to be a mess.”
CMS sent letters to 310,000 customers asking them to submit immigration documentation through the federal website. Spokesman Aaron Albright said those struggling with the website should contact the HealthCare.gov call center.
The problems are likely frustrating for customers that have already been using their health insurance for months. The delayed issues stem from the Obama administration’s failure to build automatic verification systems in time for the first enrollment period — leaving CMS with millions of inconsistencies in applications to clear up after the fact.
Customers will lose their coverage Sept. 30 if they’re unable to find a way to submit their documentation in time.