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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Your Health Idaho is actively working to ensure that customers don't see another delay in receiving a critical tax form needed to prove health coverage and avoid a tax penalty, said exchange officials on Friday.
The state's health insurance exchange failed this year to distribute the forms by the required Jan. 31 deadline. The exchange also issued thousands of corrections because of inaccurate information on the forms.
While all customers eventually received their correct forms before April 15 — and no tax penalties were issued — officials have raised concerns about the same challenges occurring next year.
However, Pat Kelly, the exchange's executive director, told board members at Friday's meeting that his staff will be implementing changes over the next few months. Kelly says the exchange will be caught up before enrollment for 2017 begins.
"Obviously, this was the single biggest challenge for us this year," Kelly said. "Everyone at YHI is making sure this is complete and accurate before enrollment starts this fall."
The form is a relatively new government document called a 1095-A. It's similar to a W-2 form for health care for people who got subsidized private insurance under President Barack Obama's law. Consumers who got health insurance tax credits need the information on the 1095-A to file their taxes.
Your Health Idaho fills out the forms and lists who in each household got subsidized coverage and how much the government paid each month to help with premiums.
According to Kelly, the exchange will be addressing its data structure and working to better coordinate with insurance carriers to avoid incorrect coverage dates.
A major issue that caused the delay this year was due to pending enrollment statuses caused by a lack of payment confirmations. The exchange is now implementing validation checks, Kelly said.
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