Reconciliation Process
“Evidence of the technical improvements to healthcare.gov can be seen in the enrollment numbers,” Sebelius said in a statement.
The next challenge is resolving the back-end issues involving data transfers to health insurers. The companies have said information they receive in the “834 transactions” from the federal system has been incomplete or garbled, raising the prospect that thousands of people who thought they had signed up won’t have coverage if the errors aren’t corrected.
About a quarter of 834 forms transmitted in October and November likely contained errors, said Bataille, the CMS spokeswoman. That error rate has been cut to about 10 percent now, she said.
A “reconciliation process” is under way with insurers to match the government’s enrollment records with those of the companies, she said, to make sure people who think they have bought coverage are indeed signed up.
Deadlines Approach
“It’s important that CMS is sending this information to health plans,” Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s Washington lobby group, said in a phone interview. “It will give a clear picture of the scale and scope of the technical problems that exist.”
Americans have until Dec. 23 to sign up for coverage that begins Jan. 1. In its report, the government counts people who have selected a plan as enrolled, though they won’t have coverage until they make their first premium payment.
Similarly, people who are designated eligible for Medicaid must complete enrollment with their state government.
Those who don’t find health insurance by March 31 may have to pay a fine of as much as 1 percent of their income.