WASHINGTON — An audit of Maryland’s health insurance exchange found that the state improperly billed the federal government more than $28 million because of an auditing error, The Baltimore Sun reports.
Auditors say the state lacked oversight and internal controls caused $28.4 million to be “misallocated.” Exchange officials said they believed they were following federal guidelines and dispute most of the audit’s findings, The Sun reports.
The billing debate stems from how the exchange billed the federal government for signing people up for health insurance.
The 2013 launch of the Maryland’s health insurance marketplace, which was part of the Affordable Car Act, has been the source of other problems. The site crashed on its first day and encountered software glitches and contractor disputes.
Now, former governor and possible presidential candidate Martin O’Malley may have to answer to the audit, which the Sun obtained before its release. O’Malley is touting himself as a tech-savvy, modern leader, The Sun adds.
The improper billing occurred because Maryland was entitled to federal reimbursement based on projections of how many people bought private insurance and how many qualified for Medicaid, but the projections turned out to be off.
When officials recognized the difference in projections, they didn’t correct the record with regulators at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for months, The Sun reports.
The audit found two accounting errors. There was a $15.9 million misallocation because the state provided out-of-date enrollment data to the federal government. Another $12.5 million was the result of incorrect calculations by a contractor, The Sun reports.
Carolyn Quattrocki, the exchange director, says she is working to resolve the billing problem.
“We really feel we followed federal guidance,” she said to The Sun. “We had no red flags along the way that we were doing anything that was not in keeping with the guidelines.”
The auditors recommend the state pays back the money and apply for the amount that is actually due, The Sun reports.
