Obamacare’s Glitch Disqualifies Americans From Health Care

The main Obamacare website, where Americans can apply for healthcare, has an ongoing glitch that may be telling users that they are not qualified for subsidies when they really are. This glitch has be...
Obamacare’s Glitch Disqualifies Americans From Health Care
Written by Val Powell
  • The main Obamacare website, where Americans can apply for healthcare, has an ongoing glitch that may be telling users that they are not qualified for subsidies when they really are. This glitch has been discovered to be running for nearly six months now.

    The Healthcare.gov website has a subsidy calculator where users can estimate how much financial assistance they qualify for before applying for Obamacare. The estimate is unofficial, but many eligible Americans might be discouraged to sign up for health care coverage because of its high costs.

    The glitch was discovered by the Philadelphia Inquirer while typing in hypothetical incomes. Before this, none of the officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) noticed the glitch on the Obamacare website.

    The subsidy calculator is using 2014 poverty guidelines when the health care law is using 2013 guidelines. The Affordable Care Act is still using last year’s mandate because sign-ups began in 2013. The 2014 guidelines are 1.5 percent higher, which may add thousands of dollars in coverage costs.

    CMS counters that it made a small difference, and that they are correcting the issue.

    This glitch affects those with incomes that barely reach the poverty line. Under the law, families whose income is 100 to 400 percent of the federal poverty level are qualified to receive subsidies.

    There is no word on how many people have been affected, but it is possible that many families did not continue applying for Obamacare after receiving expensive and inaccurate results.

    However, applicants can still continue and see if they are actually qualified. According to CMS spokesperson Richard Olague, users can get an accurate calculation of their subsidy if they complete their healthcare application.

    The Healthcare.gov website is the latest of government websites that have suffered several glitches since they were launched last year.

    Enrollment for coverage ends March 31.

    This was not the first glitch

    Image via YouTube

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