ACA sign Up

[ERhoosier]

Did you hit the little person icon in top right corner, when you came back in? Seems thats what I've had to do.


MRG

Tried that- unsuccessful.

 

[shotgunner]

You might want to revisit that if you can keep your MAGI below 200% FPL. When I looked at the plans available to me, it was a no-brainer to go with a silver plan with the reduced copays, etc. available at 196% FPL compared to a bronze plan.

Thanks Brewer, right now my part time job (20 hrs) has my MAGI at 313% of the FPL. So going into this for 2014 a Bronze plan looks to be the best deal. When I finally pull the plug on work the Silver plan may be the best choice and hopefully the bugs will have been work out on the Healthcare.gov website/system.

 

[MRG]

Good luck to all. After what they did to my data yesterday, I'm glad they said wait till Monday. I can still see an application in progress when I log in. Clicking gives the red arrow box with no error id.

I do understand system, capacity, firewall issues. I do not understand a system that manufacturers data on it's own. There are basic DBMS funtions(RI) that can prevent this. IMHO,

MRG

 

[rbmrtn]

The other day I made another account using a different email. I can get to that profile but cannot get to the section to put any info into an application. I get a blank page or the page to login, even when I'm already logged in.

One thing that might come in handy, if you use yahoo email it allows you to create disposable email addresses. I think the account creation process requires a unique email address or it doesn't work I have tried reusing an email address to create a new account and it always fails. I have used up my alternate emails trying to create accounts this week and getting various stages of failure. No one yet has been able to reset, delete or fix any existing account. I guess will start trying to use disposable yahoo accounts till I can one that work then change the email to my real account.

 

[Bikerdude]

Good to know the folks in charge of the system are communicating effectively and everything is working smoothly.

 

[jflynn4]

Well I guess we get what we pay for! What could we have expected for only $648,000,000.

Didn't think about it until after I hung up but when I called the 800 number today, the person on the other end was able to discuss my information with me after having only gotten my name (and, worse, I had used "Joe" and not "Joseph."). No request for SS#, phone! address! nothing. And the number I was calling from was not the number I'd registered with .....

Obviously their navigators have access to a lot of information!

 

[grasshopper]

I may be in, I received the eligibility PDF, except that it said that there was editable contents. Didn't say I will be eligible, but my application was under the 400 pl, table shown and I couldn't find any form to edit. Said someone will be in touch, waiting.

 

[ziggy29]

I may be in, I received the eligibility PDF, except that it said that there was editable contents. Didn't say I will be eligible, but my application was under the 400 pl, table shown and I couldn't find any form to edit. Said someone will be in touch, waiting.

I have to change mine (after October 15, wonder if that will be another glitch period). I have to take my wife off the application since she is getting insurance from her employer per council action on Tuesday, leaving me in the Exchange (which is more cost-effective anyway). Now that I've been approved and merely have to mail in proof of "Indianship", I have to redo it so only I'm covered on the Exchange plan. But now that I know the council action and where we stand, I can wait a few weeks to get it right, though I want to get it all "official" by mid-November to avoid last-minute glitches as well.

 

[Sue J]

This was posted on Twitter -

https://www.healthcare.gov/find-premium-estimates/

Use this page to find plans and costs (without your subsidy) for your state and county. You don't need to have an application or account at HealthCare.gov to use this. I found it was about the same information as we had posted here from LegalConsumer.com.

I hope this is a sign of progress. Baby steps.

 

[meierlde]

This was posted on Twitter -

https://www.healthcare.gov/find-premium-estimates/

Use this page to find plans and costs (without your subsidy) for your state and county. You don't need to have an application or account at HealthCare.gov to use this. I found it was about the same information as we had posted here from LegalConsumer.com.

I hope this is a sign of progress. Baby steps.

Note if you just want to see the plans available i.e. windowshop, ehealthinsurance.com also provides a way to do it. (This does not cover subsidies) You don't even need to give your name for this one.

 

[DallasGuy]

I really want the ACA website and ACA to be successful. But the website is a total mess in my opinion. I used to be a computer programmer and helped create several online systems. Have they not heard of testing? The ACA website appears to not even be tested. It's improving a little each day but still doesn't work. I've had to re-enter some of the same personal information several times...that is if I can even get to those entry screens in the first place. Right now I'm stuck with the identity verification having failed and it seems to stop me from doing anything else. I called Experian last week to verify my identity and now that verification seems to be lost. Today I uploaded my drivers license for the identity verification and I'm still waiting for any response from that. Does anyone know if they actually look at the uploaded data for identity verification?

 

[Katsmeow]

This was posted on Twitter -

https://www.healthcare.gov/find-premium-estimates/

Use this page to find plans and costs (without your subsidy) for your state and county. You don't need to have an application or account at HealthCare.gov to use this. I found it was about the same information as we had posted here from LegalConsumer.com.

I hope this is a sign of progress. Baby steps.

This is nice...but it doesn't ask ages so bears little relationship to what cost might be for some, particularly for people over 50.

 

[MichaelB]

This came to mind this morning
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Bueller Bueller Bueller - YouTube

 

[rbmrtn]

I really want the ACA website and ACA to be successful. But the website is a total mess in my opinion. I used to be a computer programmer and helped create several online systems. Have they not heard of testing? The ACA website appears to not even be tested. It's improving a little each day but still doesn't work. I've had to re-enter some of the same personal information several times...that is if I can even get to those entry screens in the first place. Right now I'm stuck with the identity verification having failed and it seems to stop me from doing anything else. I called Experian last week to verify my identity and now that verification seems to be lost. Today I uploaded my drivers license for the identity verification and I'm still waiting for any response from that. Does anyone know if they actually look at the uploaded data for identity verification?

I had uploaded my DL last saturday, on sunday the account no longer worked. From the login page it seems to accept the user name and password but when login is clicked it goes back to a fresh login screen with no error messages. If I put the wrong info in, it goes back to the login screen with an error message ( expected). I finally created another account, this one does the same thing, goes back to a fresh login screen. Also for every failed account creation it seems to keep the username, it would tell me account creation failed try again, then trying with the same user name it would report name already exist.

They should have went open source with this, I'd work on it for free probably a lot of others would too.

 

[rbmrtn]

Note if you just want to see the plans available i.e. windowshop, ehealthinsurance.com also provides a way to do it. (This does not cover subsidies) You don't even need to give your name for this one.

ehealth may work depending where you are. For me they have none of the exchange plans listed, they don't even display the only carrier offering plans. I used the kaiser calculator for cost guess, use the spreadsheet that was posted earlier to identify the carrier(s) offering plans on my exchange and then go their website to get plan info. Even then it's not certain as the plan info looks more generic but it least has a brochure and benefit summary.

Since I only have one carrier ( which I never heard of ) I guess comparing won't be that hard.

 

[shotgunner]

I really want the ACA website and ACA to be successful. But the website is a total mess in my opinion. I used to be a computer programmer and helped create several online systems. Have they not heard of testing? The ACA website appears to not even be tested. It's improving a little each day but still doesn't work. I've had to re-enter some of the same personal information several times...that is if I can even get to those entry screens in the first place. Right now I'm stuck with the identity verification having failed and it seems to stop me from doing anything else. I called Experian last week to verify my identity and now that verification seems to be lost. Today I uploaded my drivers license for the identity verification and I'm still waiting for any response from that. Does anyone know if they actually look at the uploaded data for identity verification?

We are in the same exact position. I uploaded a copy of drivers license last Sunday. My status is sometimes "pending verification" and other times it is "Verification required". However when I click on Verify now it goes to a dark blue screen where I can do nothing.

Since I am buying a Bronze plan I am meeting with my insurance agent next week to buy it through him and I will adjust my withholding to advance myself the tax credit/subsidy for 2014.

 

[John Galt III]

I really want the ACA website and ACA to be successful. But the website is a total mess in my opinion. I used to be a computer programmer and helped create several online systems. Have they not heard of testing? The ACA website appears to not even be tested. It's improving a little each day but still doesn't work. I've had to re-enter some of the same personal information several times...that is if I can even get to those entry screens in the first place. Right now I'm stuck with the identity verification having failed and it seems to stop me from doing anything else. I called Experian last week to verify my identity and now that verification seems to be lost. Today I uploaded my drivers license for the identity verification and I'm still waiting for any response from that. Does anyone know if they actually look at the uploaded data for identity verification?

Agreed. These kinds of errors, like getting data from another user showing up on your screen, your own info disappearing, and getting the wrong screen popping up are exactly the kind of errors you get at the very beginning of unit testing, integration testing, etc.

I plan to use the system to eventually enroll in the ACA. Still waiting a while to see if it starts working properly. Also need to figure out what income to include in 2014 "other" income, to get up to the threshold for eligibility in Pa (no medicaid expansion yet, but talking about it). For 2013 it's $11,490, but what will it be in 2014? I'm afraid to call a navigator since they apparently don't know much, and may misinform me. I may call a health insurance broker who has helped me out before.
Good luck to everyone. These posts are very useful.

 

[homebody]

As I previously mentioned, I seem to have made it to the first stage of enrollment. This happens after the application is accepted. Then a plan is selected and reviewed. At that point, the plan selection step becomes grayed out and says locked. A notice says Congratulations. But it has almost no other information and the enrollment still shows in process. I believe that is because an enrollment is not complete until the first payment has been made.

After a few follow-up calls, now a week later, the insurance company stated they will not be accepting payments for Marketplace plans until November 1. Also my information does not show up at the insurance company as of yet. I should be receiving something in the mail in the next few weeks. This could differ based on insurance companies and states. But it appears if you make it through the application and enrollment process gauntlet, there may be yet another delay due to the insurance companies not being ready. This is probably a consequence of the exchanges themselves not being ready on time.

This also leads me to believe that there are currently zero completed Marketplace enrollments with the largest insurer in my state. Nor will there be until next month at the earliest according to the information given. The reason being that the training materials state that the first payment must be received to complete an enrollment. Applications come before the enrollment process. Once you have a completed application on the Marketplace then you can select a plan. That is starting the Enrollment process. And not all applications or enrollments are completed. So you may hear about thousands of applications, but if used literally that's the phase before enrollment. Enrollment is where you pick the plan, then wait for the insurance company and make the first payment.

 

[grasshopper]

As I previously mentioned, I seem to have made it to the first stage of enrollment. This happens after the application is accepted. Then a plan is selected and reviewed. At that point, the plan selection step becomes grayed out and says locked. A notice says Congratulations. But it has almost no other information and the enrollment still shows in process. I believe that is because an enrollment is not complete until the first payment has been made.

After a few follow-up calls, now a week later, the insurance company stated they will not be accepting payments for Marketplace plans until November 1. Also my information does not show up at the insurance company as of yet. I should be receiving something in the mail in the next few weeks. This could differ based on insurance companies and states. But it appears if you make it through the application and enrollment process gauntlet, there may be yet another delay due to the insurance companies not being ready. This is probably a consequence of the exchanges themselves not being ready on time.

This also leads me to believe that there are currently zero completed Marketplace enrollments with the largest insurer in my state. Nor will there be until next month at the earliest according to the information given. The reason being that the training materials state that the first payment must be received to complete an enrollment. Applications come before the enrollment process. Once you have a completed application on the Marketplace then you can select a plan. That is starting the Enrollment process. And not all applications or enrollments are completed. So you may hear about thousands of applications, but if used literally that's the phase before enrollment. Enrollment is where you pick the plan, then wait for the insurance company and make the first payment.

Thank you for the information! I would love to have a checklist that says clearly what is next. Nothing comes close.

 

[meierlde]

ehealth may work depending where you are. For me they have none of the exchange plans listed, they don't even display the only carrier offering plans. I used the kaiser calculator for cost guess, use the spreadsheet that was posted earlier to identify the carrier(s) offering plans on my exchange and then go their website to get plan info. Even then it's not certain as the plan info looks more generic but it least has a brochure and benefit summary.

Since I only have one carrier ( which I never heard of ) I guess comparing won't be that hard.

Note that at least in the Case of BCBS Texas their web site makes direct quotes, as well as providing a list of providers. If you know who offers policies in your area, you might be able to go their website directly. (Again they don't handle subsidy cases but)

 

[MRG]

Agreed. These kinds of errors, like getting data from another user showing up on your screen, your own info disappearing, and getting the wrong screen popping up are exactly the kind of errors you get at the very beginning of unit testing, integration testing, etc.

John if you or others find my application, please complete it, I'll do the same.

MRG

 

[teejayevans]

I open 2 accounts now (Florida version) and can't logged on to either one. I tried the link above to see the plans, and all I get is price, no descriptions of what they cover, there is 84 plans but only 2 providers listed. They had 3 years and millions and they came up with a web site I could throw together in about a week. When I go to ehealthinsurance.com to see if they will list plans, I get 0. This is a nightmare, how the heck can I even pick a plan without any info? What a mess. Anybody in Florida have better luck?

 

[jflynn4]

And the frustration increases....

Friday ... I manage to get thru the system and actually enroll. System even shows "identity verified"

Saturday ... Realizing I have nothing to prove anything, I call the 800 # and get verification that I have complete enrollment and that information is being transmitted to the insurer. I'm told to wait until Wednesday and call the insurer to verify coverage.

Wednesday ... Call the insurer - they know "nothing." Recommend I contact the 800 # again to see what's going on.

Thursday ... Try to use the online exchange - profile still shows "identity verified" but other information is now missing and cannot get to the actual application, shows "unexpected error" when trying

Thursday ... Contact the 800 # but this time am told that they can only tell me that the application is in process and cannot give any other information because of "glitches in the system." They do tell me that IF I am enrolled, I will hear from someone either by phone, email, or call within a few weeks.

Friday ... Out do curiosity, try the website again. This time I come face to face with "Invalid password" (and I've been on far enough to know what the password has been all along.) Click on "forgot password" ,.. Got a notification that it will be emailed to me ... And actually pre-fills in the right address .... But, this farm nothing received.

This is nothing short of incredible and I'm starting to think that there are people behind the scenes purposely screwing with us. No one could possibly have actually designed a system like this!

 

[MRG]

No one could possibly have actually designed a system like this!

On one of my numerous calls when the rep. apologized again for all the system issues, I assured her that I wasn't upset. I did add, 'if I could speak with the folks that engineered this site, the conversation might be different'.

This is 'agile development' just change it if the end users don't like it. Works ok for some applications, not necessarily for sites that millions of folks want to hit now!

 

[NW-Bound]

Here in AZ without a state exchange, I will need to go to the Fed exchange, but from reading other people's experience here, I have not bothered. It would just clog the system even more.

However, I went to ehealthinsurance.com, and found out good info on plans available to me. After putting in my ZIP code and our birthdate, this Web site popped up 50 plans from 5 insurers for me to chose from. Wow! Are these all plans that I will later find on healthcare.gov? Or will there be even more? Well, there's enough there for me to keep busy looking. There's good detail info on each plan including pricing info, deductibles and copays, etc..., and the only thing missing is the list of participating doctors for each plan or insurer.

When I go to ehealthinsurance.com to see if they will list plans, I get 0. This is a nightmare, how the heck can I even pick a plan without any info? What a mess. Anybody in Florida have better luck?

Out of curiosity, I punched in a ZIP code somewhere in Miami, and the site threw up 11 plans. So, what gives?