The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is working to verify the eligibility of those who received subsidized health care policies during the open enrollment period that ended March 31 but had discrepancies on their applications.

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), consumers with discrepancies on their applications — generally, unverified information — have 90 days to resolve the issue, but HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, facing a backlog of some 2 million cases, has extended the grace period.

As recently as the end of May, 1.2 million consumers had inconsistencies with their reported incomes, 461,000 had yet to verify their citizenship, and 505,000 needed to prove their immigration status. Of those, some 650,000 cases had been processed by the middle of July.

HHS spokesperson Tasha Bradley said the department is conducting the verification process "to make sure individuals and families get the tax credits and coverage they deserve and that no one receives a benefit they shouldn't."

If in the verification process, reported information has been misstated, those ineligible might end up paying higher premiums or even repaying some of their subsidies.

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