ACA Exchange Experience

[pb4uski]

....The phone rep didn't see anything wrong with that.

You can't fix _ _ _ _ _ _.

 

[bamsphd]

No issues this year. Changed to a different insurance company without any apparent problems. Like last year I declined to answer any "optional" questions, and did not request an up-front subsidy. So it was pretty simple. Most answers were pre-filled with data from last year, so not even much typing.

 

[dtbach]

Mine was easy. I didn't have to work with it at all thank god.

 

[John Galt III]

I got a message telling me I must provide documentation of income for 2015. About 30 % of my 2015 income I plan on getting from a distribution from an IRA, which I included in the application as "retirement income", with a yearly occurrence. If I entered the IRA income as "one time event" it was not included as income. The website says to call the 800 number with any questions. Yuck. I wonder what they will tell me when I ask what docs they want that will prove I will be withdrawing x amount from an IRA in 2015 and subsequent years? Don't know if my credit union can set up automatic annual distributions. Ugh.....

The good news is that the cost sharing number and the actual premium number is very close to the estimated numbers.

 

[tizlo]

I just spent the last 20-30 minutes entering data into healthcare.gov and then suddenly got the following error message:

Sorry, there's a problem with our system
Please log out, then try again. If you continue to get this message, call the Marketplace Call Center 1-800-318-2596. TTY users should call 1-855-889-4325.
Error Id: 500.000888

I suppose I will have start all over.

 

[John Galt III]

Just curious about people's experiences with the 800 number for the federal version of ACA this year. Are they knowledgeable? Better than last year? If you just want some accurate info, do they still insist on pulling up your account?

 

[jim584672]

Just a followup...
I signed up for a Platinum plan on the Exchange 11/16. Was sent a determination by NYStateofHealth confirming my APTC and plan choice. Went to the insurance company web site and made a payment by credit card. It took about four phone calls to the insurance company to recognize my payment, even though they were definitely paid by the credit card company. I am still waiting for my official insurance card which they claim will be sent. I am working with a temporary card printed from the web site.

 

[scrabbler1]

I had a mild snafu in getting my policy renewed with Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield (NY) last month. It was Monday, 12/22. and I had not yet received any renewal notice from BCBS. I called them and they told me they had not yet received new data from the NY Marketplace but then transferred me to them. The Marketplace told me they had just transmitted my data to them that morning but probably had not received and processed it. I called BCBS the next day (12/23) and they told me they had received the data and were processing it. My next premium notice, which was actually for Jan and Feb 2015 (a good thing, actually) appeared in their website Friday, 12/26. I quickly paid it so I would be able to deduct the extra month on my 2014 federal income tax return. [I have been "bunching" my deductible expenses in 2014 so being able to prepay an extra month will save me about $60 in taxes; if I paid it in 2015 I'd save nothing because I will take the standard deduction.] Within a week I got my new ID card from BCBS. So, all's well that ends well?

 

[Nunthewiser]

Just a followup...
I signed up for a Platinum plan on the Exchange 11/16. Was sent a determination by NYStateofHealth confirming my APTC and plan choice. Went to the insurance company web site and made a payment by credit card. It took about four phone calls to the insurance company to recognize my payment, even though they were definitely paid by the credit card company. I am still waiting for my official insurance card which they claim will be sent. I am working with a temporary card printed from the web site.

I am having much the same problem with DW's UNHC account. Our credit card company says they sent the money, but there is not much of any acknowledgement from UNHC that they have it. Nothing in writing , anyway, and that's really what you need when you know your coverage is going to lapse in a few days. Their rep was able to track it down and find it in a pending file, but that won't cut any ice if something bad happens later.

My experience with Coventry is much better, though still not up to the Amazon.com solid handshake. I got a "we got your payment" screen (though no confirming email) even though I gave them a $0 tranaction on a credit card. The Coventry rep was able to confirm it and gave me an account number. With that I was able to go into their system and get a user ID etc.

 

[Theseus]

I got a "we got your payment" screen (though no confirming email) even though I gave them a $0 tranaction on a credit card. The Coventry rep was able to confirm it and gave me an account number. With that I was able to go into their system and get a user ID etc.

Followed instructions after signup on 12/3 and contacted insurance company on 12/9 to arrange to have bills mailed to me for direct payment, was told bills and cards would arrive in mail. Nothing received as of 12/29 so I called regarding billing, from response I received it appeared the insurance company was somewhat overwhelmed with influx of new members. My call was forwarded to billing department, but it went directly to voice mail. Called them back again on 12/30, was advised they were running behind on setting up new accounts. Arranged for a "one time for January" payment by credit card, and was told to ignore January bill when it arrived and verbally assured that yes, we would be covered as of 1/1. Bill arrived about a week later, "pending" charge appeared on CC account 1/9. Wheels are turning a bit slowly, but this is going better than getting my COBRA coverage initiated when I ER'd...

 

[jim584672]

Just a followup...
I signed up for a Platinum plan on the Exchange 11/16. Was sent a determination by NYStateofHealth confirming my APTC and plan choice. Went to the insurance company web site and made a payment by credit card. It took about four phone calls to the insurance company to recognize my payment, even though they were definitely paid by the credit card company. I am still waiting for my official insurance card which they claim will be sent. I am working with a temporary card printed from the web site.

Finally got my permanent insurance card.

 

[photoguy]

Renewal process has not gone smoothly for us on Covered CA. We went from two individual accounts to 1 family and have spent considerable time trying to fix the status of our accounts: early termination on DW account leaving no coverage for Dec 2014, covered ca failing to terminate my 2014 account, and various billing problems.

On the plus side, there's almost no wait on the phones for covered ca except for the 10 minutes navigating through their menus.

 

[Mulligan]

I am having much the same problem with DW's UNHC account. Our credit card company says they sent the money, but there is not much of any acknowledgement from UNHC that they have it. Nothing in writing , anyway, and that's really what you need when you know your coverage is going to lapse in a few days. Their rep was able to track it down and find it in a pending file, but that won't cut any ice if something bad happens later.

My experience with Coventry is much better, though still not up to the Amazon.com solid handshake. I got a "we got your payment" screen (though no confirming email) even though I gave them a $0 tranaction on a credit card. The Coventry rep was able to confirm it and gave me an account number. With that I was able to go into their system and get a user ID etc.

Nun, I am glad your experience with Coventry was better than mine. They were my initial carrier before dropping my underwritten plan and assigning me to one of their off exchange expensive plans "for my convenience". After multiple times and weeks of calling I got that one cancelled. But their ability to sign me up for their own insurance was so chaotic, the last rep I was routed to told me to sign up through ehealthinsurance to get it. I wish I had talked to that person on the first call.....After going to ehealthinsurance it was smooth sailing and just received my card today.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[photoguy]

When I switched plans for 2015, I accidentally got double billed by BlueShieldCA -- I had entered the termination date wrong for my existing plan that I was dropping (12/1/2015 instead of 1/1/2015). So I ended up paying premiums for January twice (old and new plans).

I noticed the problem right away but it took me 6 months to get a refund (they credited my account yesterday). Basically BlueShield wouldn't do anything until CoveredCA fixed the termination date and updated them directly. They would not cancel my insurance for my old plan even when asked directly by me. CoveredCA took multiple tries to update their data and send it to blue shield. BlueShield received the correct termination date at least twice although they messed it up the first time and the second time they just sat on it (doing nothing) until I prodded them along.