300K warned: Send in documents or forfeit ObamaCare coverage

Federal health officials are warning some consumers to send in citizenship and immigration documents or forfeit their ObamaCare coverage on Sept. 30.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is sending the notices to consumers whose ObamaCare application data was inconsistent with federal records.

{mosads}The last-ditch effort, announced Tuesday, is targeted at policyholders who have not responded to previous requests that they clarify their immigration status to HHS.

“We want as many consumers as possible to remain enrolled in marketplace coverage, so we are giving these individuals a last chance to submit their documents before their coverage through the marketplace will end,” said Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner in a statement.

The agency asked this group of roughly 310,000 consumers to respond by Sept. 5 or risk losing their health insurance at the end of next month.

At issue are hundreds of thousands of disparities between ObamaCare applications and federal records pertaining to immigration status and citizenship.

Many consumers obtained coverage before an inconsistency in their application was rectified.

While HHS believes that most of the problems are not the result of fraud, some Republican critics of the healthcare law said the system is too loosely monitored to protect itself against bad actors.

HHS officials said they would continue their outreach in both English and Spanish prior to Sept. 5.

Roughly half of the 970,000 citizenship and immigration data problems have been rectified since May, while 210,000 cases remain in progress, according to the department.

A follow-up campaign for people with income-data disparities will take place at a later date.