The Trump administration’s announcement earlier today around Affordable Care Act enrollees does not currently affect Washington state. The focus of this effort involves enrollees who are part of the federal marketplace, rather than state-based marketplaces like Washington Health Benefit Exchange.
Strong program integrity has been and remains a goal of the Exchange; where ongoing public trust and the responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars are part of our success. We take these efforts very seriously and continue to act quickly if any issues arise. There is no evidence that there are issues with brokers or enrollees in Washington state, as highlighted in the federal marketplace. The Exchange has proven processes in place to identify broker conduct issues and continually seeks to strengthen safeguards around broker access and consumer authorization, effectively reducing risk for Washington consumers.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Covered California Executive Director Jessica Altman issued the following statement on today’s announcement from the federal administration:
“Today's announcement from the federal administration about fraud on the federal ACA marketplace does not affect any of the 1.785 million Californians who are connected to health insurance through Covered California. Families across our state can rest assured that their health coverage will not be impacted.
A couple of weeks ago I noted that the Washington HealthPlan Finder has launched a special enrollment period for several hundred WA residents who were misled into enrolling in non-ACA compliant healthcare policies via fraudulent marketing by a company called "Benefytt Technologies."
The Federal Trade Commission Took Action Against Benefytt Technologies for Providing Deceptive Health Plans – Pennie is Helping Impacted Pennsylvanians Enroll in Quality Coverage
DIFS Files Cease and Desist Order Against Health Care Sharing Ministry, Connected Businesses Operating in Michigan
(LANSING, MICH) The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) has issued a cease-and-desist order against a healthcare sharing ministry and two connected companies for allegedly acting in violation of the Michigan Insurance Code.
“Health care sharing ministries can have a role in fostering the health, fellowship, and sense of community for individuals of faith, but they must follow the requirements of the law,” said DIFS Director Anita Fox. “The DIFS investigation showed that the companies under this cease-and-desist order are essentially operating as unlicensed health insurance companies, in violation of the Insurance Code.”
Two states in two days...just 24 hours after the Washington State Insurance Commissioner pulled the plug on the "Aliera Healthcare" and "Trinity Healthshare" healthcare sharing ministries for fraud, the New Hampshire Insurance Dept. is issuing a similar warning (although they don't appear to be actually shutting the operation down just yet):
Consumer Alert on Potential Unlicensed Health Insurance Company
CONCORD, NH – As a result of a recent Georgia court order, the New Hampshire Insurance Department is advising consumers that Aliera, a company that markets itself as a health care sharing ministry, may be operating illegally in New Hampshire.
The official tally of QHP selections nationally during the 2015 Open Enrollment Period (from 11/15/14 - 2/22/15) was 11,688,074 people.
The actual number of people still enrolled in effectuated plans (i.e., active) as of March 31, 2015, according to the HHS Dept., was 10,187,197 people. That's a net reduction of exactly 1,500,877.
On the surface, that may look bad, but bear in mind that with a 90% payment rate (which I suspect is actually pretty close to the non-ACA industry standard, and which is about 2 points better than last year), that means only about 10.5 million of the original enrollees would have been expected to actually be enrolled in March anyway. That leaves another 332,000 people who presumably paid up for January, February and/or March, but had dropped their policies by the end of March.
