HHS to Set up Health Insurance Assistance Database

In October 2010, the Office of Consumer Support, under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), began to take and respond to direct consumer inquiries related to the Affordable Care Act. As of Feb. 15, 2011, CCIIO has received 906 consumer inquiries. Consumer inquiries continue to come in to CCIIO at a rate of 30 to 35 inquiries per week. Starting in January 2011, the HHS Hotline will begin to refer ACA calls to CCIIO. To date, the HHS Hotline receives, on average, 400 calls per month pertaining to ACA.

Accordingly, a system to collect, track and store consumer information is urgently needed in order to accomplish successful case management to ensure that the information, coverage, and healthcare needs of consumers are addressed fairly and in a timely fashion.

Further, the Team will provide detailed reports on these consumer inquiries with a focus on Affordable Care Act and PHS Act compliance issues. These reports will assist the Office of Oversight in identifying areas where compliance concerns may arise. Reports will be stripped of any information in identifiable form (IIF) and personal health information when written and prepared.

Analysis of this data reporting will help identity patterns of practice in the insurance marketplaces and uncover suspected patterns of noncompliance. HHS may share program data reports with the Departments of Labor and Treasury, and State regulators. Program data also can offer CCIIO one indication of the effectiveness of State enforcement, affording opportunities to provide technical assistance and support to State insurance regulators and, in extreme cases, inform the need to trigger federal enforcement.