OVERNIGHT HEALTHCARE: Cracking down on O-Care data discrepancies

by Sarah Ferris and Elise Viebeck - 09/15/14 6:51 PM ET

The Obama administration announced Monday that it will take away healthcare subsidies from about 360,000 people if they do not offer proof of their income in the next two weeks.

The announcement marks the Obama administration’s first move to tackle the politically charged issue of income verification, which has remained a key GOP argument against the healthcare law. Many of those with unconfirmed incomes have already received a dozen notices, an Obama administrator told reporters Monday.

{mosads}ObamaCare has experienced 1.2 million cases of income inconsistencies since its launch last year, but about 800,000 of those have been resolved.

October 1 will also mark the end of healthcare coverage for 115,000 people who have not yet proven that they are legal U.S. residents. Out of the nearly 1 million people who were told to give proof of their immigration status, one-third have yet to do so.

In total, the federal government is still missing paperwork for nearly a half-million people who signed up for insurance over the last year. Part of the problem is the HealthCare.gov website, which was unable to verify some sign-ups due to technical glitches. Read more here.

Big day on Ebola: President Obama will announce new actions to fight the Ebola epidemic during a trip to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta. The trip, which will include a special briefing on the outbreak, comes after weeks of calls for the United States to step up its response to the deadly virus decimating West Africa. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, U.S. health officials and aid workers will testify in Congress’s first hearing on the current Ebola epidemic. Witnesses will include Dr. Kent Brantly, a survivor of the disease who has become an advocate for victims and healthcare workers. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) will lead the joint hearing of his two panels, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Questions unanswered: Obama is expected to announce an infusion of supplies and personnel to treat victims, train healthcare workers and erect medical venues in West Africa. But what experts really want to know is whether he will further deploy U.S. military personnel to assist with the enormous logistical challenge of coordinating responses from around the globe. Experts have urged the Pentagon to beef up infrastructure and help sort out warehousing and supply chains. But defense officials are wary of intruding on nations’ sovereignty, even as African leaders grow more desperate for help. Pressure is building for leaders to accept a command-and-control structure that would centralize the response to the epidemic. What role would the U.S. military play in that system? Obama could provide hints on Tuesday.

Health insurance data time: Two U.S. agencies will put out surveys Tuesday on the number of uninsured people in the United States, data that typically becomes a political football in fights over ObamaCare. But it’s unclear how much the surveys will reveal about the healthcare law or how much lawmakers will notice as they rush to finish work before the end of the week. The Census Bureau will announce how many people had health insurance in 2013, prior to when health plans on the exchanges became active. And the CDC’s Division of Health Interview Statistics is expected to say how many people were uninsured during the first quarter of 2014, before the enrollment rush that capped the marketplaces’ first sign-up season.

GOP probes Arkansas Medicaid plan: Leading Republicans are asking the Obama administration to explain why it approved a special version of ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion for Arkansas when federal investigations found the policy would cost taxpayers extra money. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wrote to the Medicaid agency on Monday asking how it made the decision to grant Arkansas a special exception and how it will monitor the program to ensure it doesn’t cost more than projected. “While we are supportive of states’ ability to use premium assistance programs to create innovative benefit designs for individuals in their state, we also have a responsibility to ensure that federal dollars are accounted for in a transparent and accurate manner,” the lawmakers wrote. Supporters of the Arkansas plan have disputed the findings of the report by the Government Accountability Office. Read the letter here.

Liver battle: A group of 52 lawmakers announced plans to tackle political gerrymandering – of livers. In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the lawmakers criticized a plan by the national organ-sharing network that they believe would “punish” donor-rich states in the South and Midwest. Under the new map, states with larger supplies of livers — such as Kansas and Tennessee — would share their donations with states like California or New York, where organ donation is less common. If people with less-urgent needs “just wait a little longer, they’ll be a hero and literally save the life of someone who doesn’t have that extra day,” transplant surgeon David Mulligan told The Hill.

Tuesday’s schedule

President Obama will travel to the Centers for Disease Control headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will tackle the Ebola epidemic in a hearing with the Appropriations Labor-HHS subcommittee.

The Senate Finance Subcommittee on Healthcare will hold a hearing on the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The Senate Special Committee on Aging will hold a meeting on telehealth.

The Census Bureau will release a report on health insurance coverage in the United States in 2013. The CDC is also expected to release its own data on the uninsured.

Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) will deliver the keynote address to a conference on brain research organization organized by the Brain and Behavior Foundation.

Major corporate leaders and the Bipartisan Policy Center will release a report outlining how employers can solve major problems in healthcare.

Volunteers with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network will meet with lawmakers to push for more medical research funding.

Members of the Big Cities Health Coalition will hold a briefing on opioid abuse.

The American Society of Hematology and the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America will hold a briefing on sickle cell disease.

State by state

Arizona GOP official resigns after comments on forced sterilization

Missouri enacts 72-hour abortion waiting period

In South Florida and the nation, healthcare costs often shrouded in secrecy

Reading list

How states have gamed Medicaid for hundreds of millions of dollars, Washington Post

Report: HCA, others see financial gains from Medicaid expansion, Kansas City Business Journal

Lawmakers push Supreme Court to back rights for pregnant employees, National Journal

$1.43 of every $100 in America goes toward hospital administration, Vox

Considering surgery? Some healthcare providers offer warranties, LA Times

What you might have missed at The Hill

Week ahead: Congress puts Ebola under the microscope

Where O-care could hurt Dems in November

Harkin: Hillary Clinton’s fingerprints ‘all over’ ObamaCare

House Dems unveil HHS, Labor spending bill

Health tracker Fitbit hires lobbying muscle

Please send tips and comments to Sarah Ferris, sferris@digital-release.thehill.com, and Elise Viebeck, eviebeck@digital-release.thehill.com.