RunningBum
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2007
- Messages
- 13,236
This is a thread to share your experiences, problems, questions, etc, on the registration for ACA Health Insurance. Not really intended to be about plan costs, fairness, things like that, but rather the sign up process itself, including getting information.
For me it was pretty painless. I logged in before 8am and there was some kind of message that they were getting it ready. Too early, OK.
Tried again after lunch. Got right in. A lot of questions for info they already had from last year, but I could pretty much click right through.
I filled in the same expected income amount as last year, and it was accepted without problems. I wonder if they're going to go back later to my 2017 income, when I elected to take more cap gains and convert more of my Roth and was not eligible, and reject my subsidy. Worst case I can resolve it at tax time but I'd rather have it upfront.
Onto plans: you can let them guide you by expected usage, or just see all the plans. I opted for the latter; I'd rather see all of my options, especially since I really don't know how 2019 will go medically for me. HSA plans are highlighted in the list nicely, no having to rely on the plan name or dig into details.
The only issue I had was trying to find out if my providers were in plans. First, it's not really intuitive, then it's not accurate for Anthem, anyway.
There's a box to click to check for medical providers and drugs. You type in a name, and hit search, and it gives the matches. You have to click the one you want. Then you can search again and add more doctors or drugs. Then...what? I'm not even sure where I wound up, but it didn't do anything with the searches. I found a filter button, and had to select the doctors again, then Apply the filters.
Problem is, I got no matches for my doctors. Then I went to the Anthem plan I wanted, selected Details, and clicked a link for provider search. I think this took me to an Anthem-specific search, and I did find my doctors there, as I expected. Confusing and disturbing though that they didn't show up with the ACA filtered search. I think last week I tried a doctor in a different plan and it did work, so it might just be Anthem, and maybe even just my area.
I went ahead and enrolled, since you can change you plan anytime before Dec 15. I did not pay the first premium though. I really don't expect to change plans, but just in case.
While writing this, my session timed out, so I logged back in and saw that my enrollment is confirmed, which is nice to know that I didn't miss a Submit button or anything like that. All I have to do is pay my first premium before Jan 1.
Overall, pretty pleased with the process. It was nice to see that there were no first delay web issues.
For me it was pretty painless. I logged in before 8am and there was some kind of message that they were getting it ready. Too early, OK.
Tried again after lunch. Got right in. A lot of questions for info they already had from last year, but I could pretty much click right through.
I filled in the same expected income amount as last year, and it was accepted without problems. I wonder if they're going to go back later to my 2017 income, when I elected to take more cap gains and convert more of my Roth and was not eligible, and reject my subsidy. Worst case I can resolve it at tax time but I'd rather have it upfront.
Onto plans: you can let them guide you by expected usage, or just see all the plans. I opted for the latter; I'd rather see all of my options, especially since I really don't know how 2019 will go medically for me. HSA plans are highlighted in the list nicely, no having to rely on the plan name or dig into details.
The only issue I had was trying to find out if my providers were in plans. First, it's not really intuitive, then it's not accurate for Anthem, anyway.
There's a box to click to check for medical providers and drugs. You type in a name, and hit search, and it gives the matches. You have to click the one you want. Then you can search again and add more doctors or drugs. Then...what? I'm not even sure where I wound up, but it didn't do anything with the searches. I found a filter button, and had to select the doctors again, then Apply the filters.
Problem is, I got no matches for my doctors. Then I went to the Anthem plan I wanted, selected Details, and clicked a link for provider search. I think this took me to an Anthem-specific search, and I did find my doctors there, as I expected. Confusing and disturbing though that they didn't show up with the ACA filtered search. I think last week I tried a doctor in a different plan and it did work, so it might just be Anthem, and maybe even just my area.
I went ahead and enrolled, since you can change you plan anytime before Dec 15. I did not pay the first premium though. I really don't expect to change plans, but just in case.
While writing this, my session timed out, so I logged back in and saw that my enrollment is confirmed, which is nice to know that I didn't miss a Submit button or anything like that. All I have to do is pay my first premium before Jan 1.
Overall, pretty pleased with the process. It was nice to see that there were no first delay web issues.
