Washington D.C., March 31, 2014—Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) joined House colleagues in a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting details about the Health Insurance Marketplace enrollment appeals process and an outline detailing how the agency is approaching current appeals.

“Many constituents have come to us for help in appealing a decision made by the Marketplace, yet we are not receiving many, if any, resolutions on these enrollment appeals,” the letter to Sebelius reads. “In fact, CMS has advised Congressional offices to submit a new insurance application for constituents in addition to filing an appeal, as the new application will be processed first. This seems not only redundant but also counter-productive, in that it will just be creating more work for application reviewers.”   

"With enrollment volumes still below expectations, what we’re hearing about delayed responses and backlogs of unresolved appeals is alarming," said Schweikert.  If this process is already mired in bureaucracy and ineficiency at current levels, I’m gravely concerned for the future."

"Not only are we unable to directly assist our constituents in obtaining the affordable healthcare coverage they were promised by the Affordable Care Act, but we are in the dark on how many families and individuals are having negative outcomes with the program."  

The full letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius can be read here.

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