{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140926001646/http://www.vitter.senate.gov/newsroom/press/vitter-says-administration-giving-illegal-aliens-free-pass-on-obamacare", "Vitter Says Administration Giving Illegal Aliens Free Pass on Obamacare", "2014-09-22", "2014", "2014-09", "Republican", "House", "LA", "David Vitter", "V000127", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Vitter Says Administration Giving Illegal Aliens Free Pass on Obamacare\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tMonday, September 22, 2014\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t(Washington, D.C.) \u2013 U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) is highlighting significant inconsistencies with the Obama Administration\u2019s current policy allowing illegal immigrants to receive taxpayer funded Obamacare benefits. Vitter sent a letter to Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), demanding answers. CMS is supposed to be reviewing immigration related inconsistencies, but Vitter believes they are taking too long.\n\u201cThe Obama Administration is bending over backwards to give Obamacare to illegal immigrants \u2013 but won\u2019t protect hard working American citizens who are losing their health care coverage,\u201d Vitter said. \u201cThe Obama administration has been granting deadline extensions, making excuses, and turning a blind eye to falsified documents by illegal immigrants. Enough is enough, and they need to provide answers to why they think illegal immigrants should be eligible for Obamacare.\u201d\nVitter recently offered The Employee Health Care Protection Act which would allow healthcare plans currently available on the group market under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to continue to be offered through 2018. Senate Democrats blocked the legislation that the House has already passed 247 to 167.\nCMS outlined a Sept. 5, 2014 deadline for roughly 310,000 people to respond to requests for documentation or face coverage terminations at the end of the month. As of Aug. 28, 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reports that only 70,000 people of the 310,000 had responded to requests for information.\nHHS officials also said that a firm date has not been established for when coverage termination notices related to immigration would be sent. The department also has yet to act in a similar way on income-related inconsistencies. Although CMS said it was sticking to the Sept. 5 deadline to submit necessary immigration documents, the agency also established a 60-day special enrollment periods for those unable to get the documents in on time.\nThe text of the letter is below.\nMarilyn Tavenner  Administrator  Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services  Department of Health and Human Services  7500 Security Boulevard  Baltimore, MD 21244\nDear Administrator Tavenner,\nI write with serious concerns regarding Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance sent to issuers on August 13, 2014 which creates a separate, special enrollment period for individuals who failed to take actions to resolve inconsistencies related to their eligibility for taxpayer funded subsidies under Obamacare.\nIn the CMS guidance, you outlined a September 5th deadline for consumers with unresolved immigration-related inconsistencies to submit necessary documents or lose their coverage and potentially repay subsidies already issued. To further undermine the original deadline of March 31, 2014 for submitting personal information to claim health care subsidies for coverage, CMS quietly established a special enrollment period giving those who have yet to comply with the law an additional 60 day extension.\nThis latest extension to resolve inconsistencies within the 90-day required in statute sheds doubt on the Administration\u2019s commitment to ensure taxpayer funded credits are issued to eligible citizens of the United States. Given the urgency to resolve these inconsistencies before the next enrollment period, I ask that you answer the following questions by no later than October 1, 2014.\n1. What steps has CMS taken to communicate to individuals with immigration related consistencies? Specifically, what information did you request from them to resolve such issues?\n2. What is the internal verification process CMS is using to validate information?\n3. How long will the review process of these 310,000 applications take? Do you expect to resolve these issues prior to the next enrollment period starting November 15, 2014?\n4. Will the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) store this documentation? If so, what security measures will be taken to protect personal information?\n5. How many applications with immigration-related inconsistencies resulted from a computer malfunction on healthcare.gov?\n6. How many applications with immigration-related inconsistencies were from individuals who are illegal immigrants residing in the United States?\n7. If an individual\u2019s self-attested information fails to match federal data resources, will there be repercussions for falsifying documents to a government agency? Does CMS plan on sharing this information with other agencies that would enforce 18 U.S. Code Section 1001?\n8. In August, the Department of Treasury issued a notice stating individuals receiving advanced payment tax credits to offset the cost of their exchange plans will be responsible for repaying the government should they be found ineligible. If an individual is deemed ineligible due to their immigration status, how does the Administration plan on receiving these funds from a person who is technically undocumented and therefore, illegally residing in the United States and may not have a tax identification number or bank account?\nIt is critical as the Administration moves forward into Obamacare\u2019s second enrollment period that CMS dramatically improves the verification process in determining eligibility for taxpayer funded subsidies. Last year was nothing short of a disaster and as a result the Administration continues to bend the rules for people who did not comply with the law in the first place, with an exorbitant cost to the U.S. taxpayer. With millions of Americans losing their plans on the individual market and potentially millions more losing insurance on the small group markets in 2015, CMS has a responsibility to correctly issue credits to eligible Americans.\nSincerely,\nDavid Vitter  United States Senate", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140926001646/http://www.vitter.senate.gov/newsroom/press/vitter-says-administration-giving-illegal-aliens-free-pass-on-obamacare"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7941159419715405, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}