Dem Rep. Liccardo: ‘Many Cases’ of ACA Enrollments Without Authorization, Need Caps So People Making $500K Aren’t Benefiting

On Thursday’s broadcast of WBUR’s “Here and Now,” Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-CA) discussed his plan to extend the Obamacare subsidies and said that there should be “income caps so we’re not subsidizing households making $500,000 a year.” He also stated there are some “serious challenges around fraud and insurance overbilling” such as overbilling with Medicare Advantage and “insurance brokers that extract commissions by signing folks up on the ACA marketplace without their authorization, in many cases.”

Liccardo stated, “Well, first, we want to find a way to pay for it. And we’ve done that by imposing some income caps so we’re not subsidizing households making $500,000 a year.”

He continued, “We also want to make sure we’re addressing some of the serious challenges around fraud and insurance overbilling. And so, we’ve got provisions that will halt the overbilling of insurance companies of certain Medicare Advantage, and we’re addressing the fraud that we know is out there from insurance brokers that extract commissions by signing folks up on the ACA marketplace without their authorization, in many cases. So, we think there are protections in here that will both save taxpayers money and address a lot of fraud.”

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