State Healthcare Advocate Victoria Veltri said Thursday that she is concerned a new IRS rule will confuse Medicaid patients and potentially swamp Access Health CT’s call center with calls during the upcoming open enrollment period.
Until this year, those enrolling in Medicaid and Obamacare plans with subsidies have been able to attest to the IRS that they were income-eligible for that coverage.
But in the coming year, the state’s Medicaid administrator, the Department of Social Services, will mail Medicaid patients a version of Form 1095 — similar to the forms insurance carriers send annually to employee health plan participants.
Medicaid patients will be required to file the forms with the IRS, but those that don’t make enough money to file a return won’t have to submit the form to the IRS, DSS Spokesman David Dearborn said Thursday.
Medicaid patients who switched between an exchange plan and Medicaid during 2015 will receive two forms. And those who switched and also had a job for part of the year would receive three.
“I think the 1095-B’s are extraordinarily scary to a lot of us,” Veltri said. “My fear is its going to overwhelm the call centers…during open enrollment.”
Access Health Director of Operations James Michel said the exchange has been posting information about the forms on its website and coordinating with DSS.
Dearborn said DSS is “preparing plain-language guidance for our enrollees to explain this brand-new process, which is driven by the Affordable Care Act changes and is happening nationally.”
DSS will send the forms in January. IRS instruction on the form can be found here.
