Feds to crack down on customers using ObamaCare loophole

The Obama administration is promising to crack down on healthcare customers who buy coverage in between enrollment periods to lower costs.

Andy Slavitt, acting head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, acknowledged publicly for the first time Monday night that some customers are using loopholes in the enrollment sign-up periods to avoid paying healthcare premiums year-round.  

{mosads}He said more details about the administration’s plans will come next week, after the Jan. 31 deadline for coverage.

“There are some [special enrollment periods] that we need to clarify because they’re subject frankly to abuse,” Slavitt said at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.

“There may be bad actors and others out there who are abusing those,” he said.

There are now dozens of “special enrollment” categories that allow people to sign up after the federal deadline, according to the HealthCare.gov website. Those range from an “exceptional circumstance” – which could mean a serious medical condition – to “misinformation” about a healthcare plan.

People who experience “life changes” like moving to a new state or changing your income are also given exceptions.

The number of customers trying to game the system is rising, healthcare companies said in a recent Sunday edition of The New York Times —a report that prompted Slavitt to address the issue on Monday.