RNC Research

Today, The Obama Administration Acknowledged That “As Many As 25 Percent” Of 834 Forms Submitted To Insurers In October And November Had Data Errors. “After days of stiff-arming reporters about errors on enrollment forms going to health insurance companies, federal officials said today that in October and November as many as 25 percent of those forms had data errors, and that those errors have now been reduced to 10 percent.” (Jamie Dupree, “Feds Finally Detail Health Enrollment Errors,” Cox Media, 12/6/13)

• Centers For Medicare And Medicaid Services Spokeswoman Julie Battaille Confirmed The Percentage Of 834 Forms That Had Faulty Data. “After refusing to give any data for days, Bataille on Friday acknowledged that as many as one out of every four of the 834 forms generated when someone signed up for coverage on the healthcare.gov website had mistakes in October and November - but now it is down 10 one of every ten. ‘This analysis is preliminary and not final,’ said Bataille, as she told reporters there is an ‘intense’ effort inside the Obama Administration to fix the errors on every enrollment form that’s gone to a health insurance company.” (Jamie Dupree, “Feds Finally Detail Health Enrollment Errors,” Cox Media, 12/6/13)

Earlier This Week, The Obama Administration Had Refused To Release Any Data On The 834 Forms

On Monday, The Washington Post Reported That One-Third Of The 834 Forms Were Riddled With Errors. “The errors cumulatively have affected roughly one-third of the people who have signed up for health plans since Oct. 1, according to two government and health-care industry officials. The White House disputed the figure but declined to provide its own.” (Amy Goldstein and Juliet Eilperin, “Health Care Enrollment On Web Plague By Bugs,” The Washington Post, 12/2/13)

In Response To A Question About The Faulty 834 Forms, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney Said That The Washington Post’s Statistic Was Inaccurate. Q: “And just jumping to the Affordable Care Act implementation, there’s reporting that enrollment records for a large number of people who have signed up for health plans contain errors that could cause problems for the insurers who have to process that information.  Does the administration have any deadlines for cleaning up the backend of the website?” JAY CARNEY: “I am very glad you asked that question, because that statistic that was cited in a newspaper today does not reflect at all the picture of what is happening right now.  In fact, I’m not sure it’s an accurate picture of issues with the backend of the system even going back weeks.” (White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, Press Briefing, Washington, D.C., 12/3/13) 

• Up Until Today, The Centers For Medicare And Medicaid Services Had Refused To Answer How Many 834 Transactions Have Resulted In Errors. “Three reporters – one from the Los Angeles Times, one from The Wall Street Journal and I – asked Bataille for information on how many of the 834s sent out so far have had an error. This is a question that I’ve asked on three previous calls, a point made by the Los Angeles Times’s Noam Levey as he asked for his second time.”(Sarah Kliff, “ObamaCare Media Updates Are Starting To Get Tense,” The Washington Post’s Wonk Blog, 12/2/13)