Pursuit's Take
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) oversees implementation of health insurance provisions for the Affordable Care Act and works with States to establish marketplaces, which evaluate individuals’ eligibility for qualified health plans (QHPs) and insurance affordability programs (i.e., the premium tax credit and cost-sharing reductions). OIG’s prior reviews of seven State marketplaces found that not all of their internal controls were effective in ensuring that individuals were properly determined eligible for QHPs and insurance affordability programs. These deficiencies led OIG to review the effectiveness of CMS’s oversight of State marketplaces. OIG’s objective was to determine whether CMS provided effective oversight to ensure that State marketplaces determined individuals’ eligibility for QHPs and insurance affordability programs according to Federal requirements.
Although CMS provided oversight and technical assistance, it did not ensure for the 2014 through 2016 coverage years that all State marketplaces (1) had the system functionality to verify individuals’ eligibility for QHPs and insurance affordability programs and resolve inconsistencies in eligibility data according to Federal requirements and (2) had or used the system functionality to perform the process for determining ineligibility for individuals who had not filed a tax return to reconcile the premium tax credit. Further, CMS did not ensure that all of the marketplaces completed required independent audits.
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