The Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services said in the report provided to The Associated Press that the state used inflated population figures to claim funding, effectively saying every New Yorker would benefit from coverage through the exchange.
At issue is part of the $571 million the federal government gave New York in grants from 2010 through 2014 to get the exchange up and running, enroll uninsured people in "qualified health plans" and encourage participation in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.
[...] the state health department's most recent report on the exchange showed that as of Jan. 1 just under 2 million people were enrolled through Medicaid, 215,000 children through Child Health Plus and 380,000 through what's called the "Essential Plan" for low-income people not qualified for Medicaid.
"New York State of Health strongly disagrees with the inspector general's finding that federal grant funds were misallocated to exchange activities rather than to other public health insurance programs, and that any refund is due to CMS," the health department said in a statement Monday.
