HealthCare.gov still doesn’t allow legal immigrants to submit their green card as proof of identity and legal residence to apply for Obamacare coverage, according to the Associated Press.
The federal Obamacare exchange website is suffering yet another of its infamous “glitches,” according to the report. HealthCare.gov requires applicants to upload documentation to the website that proves that they’re eligible for Obamacare as legal U.S. residents, but it doesn’t provide a space for customers to upload green cards.
“It doesn’t list the green card as an option to upload,” Elizabeth Colvin of Foundation Communities, a Texas group serving many immigrants, told the AP. “The limited list of documents is confusing people and needs to be updated to include all accepted documents to verify identity.”
Some applicants have mailed in copies of their green cards; others are uploading their copies by listing it as another form of documentation, hoping that someone working at HealthCare.gov will notice the difference.
“These are the same type of glitches that immigrant families encountered last year during the first open enrollment,” Angel Padilla of the National Immigration Law Center told the AP.
Legal immigrants are eligible to purchase coverage on the exchanges and receive taxpayer premium subsidies, but illegal immigrants — including DREAMers and reportedly, those expected to be granted amnesty by President Obama — are not. (RELATED: Report: No Obamacare For Illegal Immigrants Under Obama’s Amnesty)
The Obama administration kicked 115,000 people off HealthCare.gov coverage earlier this year after those customers failed to prove their legal status in the U.S. Pro-immigration groups had argued then that the website wasn’t working well enough for many people to upload their documents at all. (RELATED: Report: HealthCare.gov Still Doesn’t Work)
While HealthCare.gov has made many improvements since last year, the Obama administration has apparently overlooked the green card problem.
“We are working to make it clear that consumers with any type of immigration issue can upload any form that is requested, including a copy of their green card,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokesman Aaron Albright told The AP.