HHS: 15K Healthcare.gov reports missing

The Obama administration says it has reduced the error rate for the transmission of health insurance enrollment records to less than 1 percent, although the number of missing reports for consumers reached close to 15,000.

In an update posted on its website Saturday, the Department of Health and Human Services reported significant improvements to “back end” problems with the federal HealthCare.gov insurance exchange after insurers complained that they had not received enrollment records for consumers who purchased coverage through the website.

{mosads}Julie Bataille, spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), wrote in a blog post that between Oct. 1 and Dec. 5, the number of missing records – known as 834s – “was fewer than 15,000.” 

During a two-week period in October, at the height of the website malfunctioning, the error rate for enrollment record transmission topped 15 percent. But in the beginning of this month, the error rate had plummeted to near zero, Bataille reported.

“These significant improvements are due to the technical fixes put in place by the end of November,” she wrote.

Consumers have generally reported a much improved experience shopping on the federal exchange since the administration-imposed deadline of Nov. 30 for improving the broken website. Enrollments have reportedly surged in December, but insurers have continued to voice concerns about missing or erroneous enrollment reports, which could wreak havoc in January when consumers try to use the insurance they have purchased.

“To make sure that no consumer falls through the cracks because of earlier pervasive troubles with the site, we are contacting every consumer who has selected a plan through the Federal Marketplace to remind them to pay their premium and connect with their insurer,” Bataille wrote. “We continue to work with health plans Exit Disclaimer Icon undertaking a very focused process to verify 834 information. We are double and triple checking all enrollment data across systems.”

The department had announced that as many as 30,000 applications might need to be refiled, and they are anticipating a flood of visits to the website in the final weeks of the years as consumers try to sign up for coverage beginning Jan. 1.

“This thorough process will continue as we move forward,” Bataille wrote, “so that as open enrollment continues we are able to process back end financial information as needed between CMS and issuers, so that consumers who have selected affordable health plans from the Marketplace and paid their premium to that plan, are able to access the coverage they want and need.”