The Biden administration faces what looks like a growing problem for the federal Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchange: disreputable insurance brokers enrolling people who don’t need coverage or switching them to new plans without their authorization. The Health 202 is a coproduction of The Washington Post and KFF Health News. , a restaurant server who lives in Charlotte.
Unbeknownst to him, an agent in Florida with whom he’d never spoken enrolled him in an ACA plan in March 2023. Debriae had insurance through his job and discovered the Obamacare coverage only when his longtime pharmacy rejected a 90-day refill because the ACA plan didn’t allow it. He filed a complaint with the federal marketplace and canceled the plan.
But because the pharmacy had billed the ACA plan for other prescriptions, federal investigators told him they couldn’t retroactively cancel his coverage. He got stuck with a tax bill — his entire tax refund, he said — for some of the tax credits the IRS paid his Obamacare insurer from March until July. The ACA saw record enrollment for this year of more than people, but growing complaints from consumers like Debriae and agents who say they’ve lost clients to unauthorized switches , a KFF Health News investigation found.
On Feb. 26, the sent an to insurance industry representatives acknowledging “a large number” of 2024 cases and outlining technical efforts to resolve problems. , deputy director for policy for the at CMS, said in a March .
