Obamacare coverage could end for 100,000 Californians

LOS ANGELES — About 100,000 Californians who haven't yet proved their citizenship or legal residency in the U.S. face losing their health care coverage this fall, state officials said.

The state will start sending notices to affected consumers early next month and follow up with more communication, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday (http://lat.ms/1saVhI5).

Covered California, the state-run insurance exchange, enrolled more than 1.2 million people during the rollout of the Affordable Care Act this year. The exchange said it could verify citizenship or immigration status of most consumers electronically through a federal data hub.

But Peter Lee, the exchange's executive director, told the Times that about 100,000 people must still submit proof of eligibility or risk losing coverage in October.

He estimated that most of the people affected are legal residents.

Covered California has been trying to clear up these inconsistencies and has already processed 600,000 documents to prove eligibility, Lee said. He attributed much of the problem to paperwork issues.

"If individuals are not able to provide that proof by late September or October, we will have to terminate their coverage," Lee said at an exchange board meeting Thursday. "This is not something we want to do."

The next enrollment window for individual health insurance starts Nov. 15.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com