The Affordable Care Act public exchange system is making a change that could help some people avoid tax nightmares but cause some other people to suffer a sudden, unexpected loss of ACA exchange plan health coverage.
The public exchange programs will be automatically ending the exchange plan coverage of many exchange plan users who appear to have Medicare coverage.
(Related: Medicare-ACA Double Dipper Hunting Season Starts Now)
Officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) talk about the new, automatic expulsion effort in a guide to the “periodic data matching” effort that was released Wednesday.
The Background
The ACA exchange plan program gives low-income and moderate-income people a way to use ACA premium tax credit subsidies to help pay for coverage.
Medicare is a federal health insurance program that serves people ages 65 and older, many younger people who qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, and people who need kidney dialysis.
Under federal law, people are not supposed to use ACA premium tax credit subsidies and have Medicare coverage at the same time. ”Double dippers” may have to return any ACA premium tax credits they received while on Medicare, when they file their federal income tax returns.