In May, CMS said it received 40,000 complaints of unauthorized plan switches in the first three months of 2024. Some advocates say third-party platforms make it easier for unauthorized brokers to make changes to enrollees’ plans that they did not authorize, KFF reported.
Of the 40,000 complaints, around 39,000 have been resolved, CMS said May 6.
The agency also received 50,000 complaints of unauthorized enrollments, of which around 44,000 have been resolved.
In a May 20 letter to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Senator Ron Wyden urged the agency to do more to tackle the problem.
“Ensuring that consumers are held harmless and enrolled in the plan they choose is of the utmost importance,” Mr. Wyden wrote. “However, CMS must do more and you must do it now.”
Mr. Wyden asked CMS to proactively identify and notify consumers who may have been enrolled in plans without their consent. He also asked the agency to conduct a thorough review of the companies it contracts with to enroll people in ACA plans.
The senator also urged the agency to impose financial penalties on brokers found fraudulently enrolling people in plans, or switching their enrollment without their consent.
Read more here.
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