Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/352307
ByKelliKennedy The Associated Press MIAMI Linda Close was grateful to learn she qual- ified for a sizable subsidy to help pay for her health insurance under the new federal law. But in the process of signing up for a plan, Close said her HealthCare.gov account showed several different subsidy amounts, vary- ing as much as $180 per month. Close, a South Flor- ida retail worker in her 60's, said she got differ- ent amounts even though the personal information she entered remained the same. The Associated Press has reviewed Close's various subsidy amounts and dates to verify the in- formation, but she asked that her financial infor- mation and medical his- tory not be published for privacy reasons. "I am the kind of person the Affordable Care Act was written for: older, with a pre-existing (condition) and my previous plan was being cancelled. I need it and I'm low income," said Close, who has spent more than six months appealing her case. "The government pledged to me that origi- nal tax credit amount. It's crazy." Government officials say Close — and other con- sumers who have received different subsidy amounts — probably made some mistake entering personal details such as income, age and even ZIP codes. The Associated Press inter- viewed insurance agents, health counselors and at- torneys around the coun- try who said they received varying subsidy amounts for the same consumers. As consumers wait for a resolution, some have de- cided to go without health insurance because of the uncertainty while others who went ahead with pol- icies purchased through the exchanges worry they are going to owe the gov- ernment money next tax season. These difficulties faced by Close and others are unfolding separately from the legal battle that flared this week when two fed- eral appeals courts issued contradictory rulings on the subsidies in states that rely on the federal health exchange. The Obama ad- ministration says policy- holders will keep getting financial aid as it sorts out the legal implications. The government said consumers who received multiple subsidy estimates or disagree with their sub- sidy amount can appeal. The government hopes to resolve most of the appeals paperwork this summer. It's unclear how many peo- ple received or appealed varying subsidy amounts. Still, Centers for Medi- care and Medicaid Ser- vices spokesman Aaron Albright said consumers "should feel confident that they received an accurate determination based on the information they pro- vided in their application." Federal health officials ruled on Close's appeal last month, giving her yet another subsidy esti- mate, which was within a few dollars of the one she is currently receiving, her attorney said. Subsidies are important to making premiums un- der the new health care law affordable. About 87 percent of the more than 8 million people who signed up for coverage under the law received subsidies, which are paid directly to the insurance company on behalf of individual con- sumers, according to data from federal health offi- cials. Consumers pay the difference directly to the insurance company each month just as they do with private insurance. AFFORDABLE CARE ACT Varyinghealthpremium subsidies worry consumers The Associated Press ST. LOUIS The nation's third botched execution in six months offers more ev- idence for the courts that lethal injection carries too many risks and amounts to cruel and unusual punish- ment, death-row lawyers and other opponents said Thursday. Death-penalty opponents say the execution of an Ar- izona inmate who took two hours to die shows that state experiments with dif- ferent drugs and dosages are a callous trial-and-er- ror process. The result: Ev- ery few months, an inmate gasps, chokes and takes an unusually long time to die. "These executions are ex- periments on human sub- jects," said Cheryl Pilate, an attorney for several Mis- souri death-row inmates. "The potential for things to go wrong is almost un- limited." Lethal injection has been challenged in the courts many times, mostly without success. The biggest recent challenge for death-penalty states has been obtaining lethal chemicals after major drugmakers stopped selling drugs for use in executions. That forced states to find al- ternative injection drugs. Adding to the concern from opponents is the fact that the drugs are mostly purchased from loosely reg- ulated compounding phar- macies. Arizona, Texas, Florida and Missouri refuse to name the supplier and of- fer no details about how the drugs are tested or how exe- cutioners are trained. The Supreme Court will probably face increasing pressure to examine how American executions play out, said Deborah Denno, a Fordham University School of Law death penalty expert. "Every time this happens, it makes it far more diffi- cult for a state corrections department to justify using a drug such as midazolam that's so consistently prob- lematic, and to justify the secrecy," Denno said. Some death-penalty op- ponents are zeroing in on midazolam, a sedative com- monly used to treat people with seizures. It was first used in an execution in Oc- tober in Florida. This year, three of the 10 U.S. executions using the drug this year have gone wrong. The latest was Wednesday,whenArizonain- mate Joseph Rudolph Wood gaspedformorethananhour and a half while being exe- cuted for killing his former girlfriend and her father. He was pronounced dead one hour and 57 minutes after the execution began. After the execution, Ar- izona Gov. Jan Brewer or- dered a review of the state's execution protocol. Wood's lawyer demanded an inde- pendent investigation. Governors in Ohio and Oklahoma ordered similar reviews after the bungled executions in those states earlier this year. In January, Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire snorted and gasped for 26 minutes before dying. State correc- tions officials have said they do not believe McGuire suf- fered, but they increased the drug dosage "to allay any remaining concerns." In April, Oklahoma in- mate Clayton Lockett died of an apparent heart attack 43 minutes after his execu- tion began, after the state's prison's chief directed the executioner to stop admin- istering the drugs. Both Arizona and Ohio used a two-drug proto- col of midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone. Oklahoma used a three- drug combination of mid- azolam, the muscle relax- ant vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride, which stops the heart. State protocols on how to use midazolam vary greatly. Some inject it as part of a two-drug method, others three. The amount of the drug given also varies. Ohio used 10 milligrams of mid- azolam in the McGuire ex- ecution. Oklahoma's pro- tocol calls for 100 milli- grams. Florida uses 500 milligrams. "They don't know," Denno said. "We don't have experts on how to inject someone to death." Texas and Missouri, two of the most active death penalty states, use the sin- gle drug pentobarbital. Still, death row lawyers say the same potential exists for problems to occur. Pilate and James Rytting, a Houston lawyer who rep- resents several condemned inmates in Texas, both say they will cite the botched Arizona execution in ap- peals for inmates with ex- ecutions pending. "These agonizing and horrifying situations are going to happen," Rytting said. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT Execution offers evidence against lethal injection THEASSOCIATEDPRESS The Arizona state prison where the nearly two-hour execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood took place on Wednesday is shown in Florence, Ariz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