Federal audit finds problems with Washington health exchange

SEATTLE (AP) — A federal audit being released Thursday found Washington's health insurance marketplace didn't always do a good job of ensuring people were enrolled according to federal requirements, but the exchange says it has fixed or is already working on the problems.


The audit, by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found issues similar to those uncovered during audits of other states, including Kentucky and New York. The review randomly looked at 45 applications out of the roughly 155,000 people who applied during the open enrollment period for coverage in 2014.

The exchange didn't always verify whether applicants were eligible for minimum essential coverage, did not always resolve inconsistencies in data and failed to properly verify applicants' household income. The auditors said their findings don't necessarily mean people were improperly enrolled or denied, because problems may have been caught later in the application process.

In a response, the exchange's chief executive said it has fixed or will fix the problems by July, including through fixes to software code.