Consent for Verification
August 25, 2015
On August 14, Covered CA sent letters to members who currently receive subsidies. The letter advised them that they must give their consent for Covered CA to verify their income and family size to determine their subsidy eligibility for their health plan in 2016.
IMPORTANT: Authorizing Electronic Consent to Verify Income
To make the renewal process as easy as possible, consumers should update their Consent for Verification on the online application. When consumers fill out their application, they choose to allow Covered California to verify their income electronically using their federal tax return information from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – This is called Consent for Verification. Consumers may authorize Covered California to electronically verify their income for a period of Zero (0) to Five (5) years. It allows Covered California to apply the APTC and CSR to their annual renewal without the consumer having to take any action.
If a member does not provide consent to verify income or the time period for which they originally provided consent has lapsed, Covered California will not be able to calculate or offer premium assistance or cost-sharing reductions when it is time to renew. Follow the brief instructions below or in the CalHEERS Job Aid – View and Update Consent for Verification to help simplify the renewal process for your consumers.
1) Log in to your account on www.CoveredCA.com
2) Locate the “ACTIONS” section of the webpage (on the right)
3) Click on the “Update Consent for Verification” link
4) Click on the drop down menu to choose the number of years (up to 5 years) to allow Covered California to check your household income
5) Click the “Update” button on the bottom of the webpage to submit your choice
Sample Notification Letter
Important news about getting health benefits in 2015
{NEXT_BENEFIT_YEAR}
February 1, 2014 {CURRENT_DATE} Case: 123456789 {CASE_NUMBER}
Dear John {FIRST_NAME} Hook {LAST_NAME},
You are receiving this letter because you submitted an application and are currently enrolled in a Covered California health plan. Covered California is reaching out to you because we are preparing for the upcoming Annual Renewal Period. During the Annual Renewal Period, anyone who already qualified for health insurance in 2014 {CURRENT_BENEFIT_YEAR} may be automatically re-enrolled in their same health plan for the 2015 {NEXT_BENEFIT_YEAR} benefit year if their plan is still available. To renew your household’s insurance coverage, Covered California has to check your income.
When you signed up for health insurance on February 1, 2014 {APP_DATE}, you agreed to allow Covered California to use computer sources, such as the IRS, to check your income. However, you only allowed us to check your income for the 2014 {CURRENT_BENEFIT_YEAR} benefit year. To find out if you qualify to get health insurance in 2015 {NEXT_BENEFIT_YEAR}, Covered California needs to check your income. In order to check your income, you will need to give us permission again to check your information using computer sources. To make it easier to continue to get help paying for health insurance in future years, you can allow us to check your income for up to 5 years.
If you already have a www.CoveredCA.com account then follow these steps:
1. Log in to your account on www.CoveredCA.com;
2. Locate the “ACTIONS” section of the webpage (located on the right);
3. Click on the “Update Consent for Verification” link;
4. Click on the drop down menu to choose the number of years (up to 5 years) you want to allow Covered California to check your income; and
5. Click the “Update” button on the bottom of the webpage to submit your choice. You can also complete the attached form and mail or fax it to Covered California.
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