ACA sign Up

[MRG]

December 1 - Got clean application including tax credits and cost sharing.
December 6 - hit enroll.
Since then called every couple days to see if BCBSKC received, never got a call returned.
December 14 - received invoice, has tax credits.
Guess I'll try getting on BCBSKC, site tomorrow and validate info.

Thanks to everyone here who helped me understand ACA better, and the tricks to healthcare.gov!

MRG

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Invoice Envy

I paid online the other day, I thought, but to date, no charge has hit my card, no letter has arrived in my mail, nor an invoice, nor a welcome packet.

Was the link where I paid just a placebo link? Just something to make me feel better but with no real efficacy?

 

[MichaelB]

I paid online the other day, I thought, but to date, no charge has hit my card, no letter has arrived in my mail, nor an invoice, nor a welcome packet.

Was the link where I paid just a placebo link? Just something to make me feel better but with no real efficacy?

Same here., working directly with BCBS. I got no email confirmation either. My guess is they took the credit card info but will invoice anyway, wanting a check instead of paying CC fees. To be safe I took a screenshot of the confirmation screen, which includes the payment acknowledgement.

 

[MichaelB]

Same here., working directly with BCBS. I got no email confirmation either. My guess is they took the credit card info but will invoice anyway, wanting a check instead of paying CC fees. To be safe I took a screenshot of the confirmation screen, which includes the payment acknowledgement.

I was wrong. The BCBS charge for January posted yesterday to my account. Took four days. Very unlike an insurance company to take so long to charge, but makes no difference to me.

We have health care insurance.

 

[audreyh1]

Alright!

Now I just have to figure out what they are going to do for my husband's draft. They could be waiting for Jan 1, as that was when they were drafting his old policy.

 

[rbmrtn]

I paid online the other day, I thought, but to date, no charge has hit my card, no letter has arrived in my mail, nor an invoice, nor a welcome packet.

Was the link where I paid just a placebo link? Just something to make me feel better but with no real efficacy?

The payment button went away for me as well after clicking it ( this was mid Nov ). First week of Dec I get an invoice from the insurance company, nothing at all in between. It seems to go in a black box after enrolling and comes out some time later. It would have been helpful to have some way to check the status. I created an account with the insurer and made the payment online with them, it was posted on my CC so it should be done.

Given the time, I would go ahead and contact your insurance company directly to see if they got your info.

 

[REWahoo]

Enrollment records for close to 15,000 HealthCare.gov shoppers were not initially transmitted to the insurance plans they selected, according to a preliminary federal estimate released Saturday.

Exclusive: Thousands of HealthCare.gov sign-ups didn’t make it to insurers

Based on the number of folks who have posted about their problems and concerns I'm wondering if that 15,000 estimate isn't missing a zero...

 

[MichaelB]

Exclusive: Thousands of HealthCare.gov sign-ups didn’t make it to insurers

Based on the number of folks who have posted about their problems and concerns I'm wondering if that 15,000 estimate isn't missing a zero...

Yes, the "missing 834's". Not exactly breaking news, but still troubling in two respects. They don't have an audit process to determine exactly which applications are missing or flawed, and the announcement of a fix uses the word "reduced" instead of "eliminated". In my view neither of these are acceptable. It does appear that people using the system now are having success. Once again we learn the reason for the term "bleeding edge of technology".

It is encouraging that the project errors are being openly acknowledged and progress reviewed. This project is FUBAR. The best way out, IMHO, would be to dump the project and start again. Not that anyone ever listens to me...

 

[NoMoreJob]

Yes, the "missing 834's". Not exactly breaking news, but still troubling in two respects. They don't have an audit process to determine exactly which applications are missing or flawed, and the announcement of a fix uses the word "reduced" instead of "eliminated". In my view neither of these are acceptable. It does appear that people using the system now are having success. Once again we learn the reason for the term "bleeding edge of technology".

It is encouraging that the project errors are being openly acknowledged and progress reviewed. This project is FUBAR. The best way out, IMHO, would be to dump the project and start again. Not that anyone ever listens to me...

I agree with your conclusion, but in my opinion this is far from "bleeding edge technology" and the only reason the errors are being acknowledged is because it's become impossible (and too politically damaging) to attempt to conceal them.

 

[audreyh1]

Signed in today, and now I really do have two separate user accounts on bcbstx.com. One shows my old coverage and claims. The other my new coverage - shows I'm paid up to 2/1/14, and I downloaded a "verification of coverage" letter, and a "temporary ID card". Nice!

[Before, whether I logged in with my new user id or my old one, I got my old account]

 

[zedd]

CC?! Really. The insurance carriers are accepting payment by credit card? Sweet!

 

[scrabbler1]

After I signed up for coverage through my state's (New York) exchange back on October 5th, I was hoping to hear from my new company to confirm coverage. (Actually, my new company is not really new. I have an existing policy through them which is not ACA compliant and will be expiring at the end of 2013. I just happen to choose them for my new, broader policy through the exchange.) It took two attempts in the last week or so, navigating through some hellish automated phone system just to be able to talk to a live person, only to be told they would not have the new exchange customers in their system until early November. That's okay as long as the voice on the other end of the line wasn't just putting me off by covering for the possibility that she had no idea if that would be true. I guess I'll find out pretty soon.

Just a follow-up from this: I did not receive a call before Thanksgiving as I was promised. However, the following Monday (December 2), I did get a call back (from the same woman who took my number a month earlier). I was told they were still processing the applications but because I had received a confirmation number when I signed up, I would hear back from them the following week. And I did get another call from that same woman last week telling me I was in their system and I would receive a premium notice (for the amount I was quoted) by the end of the month, payable by Jan 10, at which time I would receive a welcome packet with details of my new policy including a list of doctors, etc.

Then, a few days after I got that call early last week, I got a letter from the NY Exchange itself telling me there was some missing information. That seems weird but in the letter it stated that the missing info might be related to the subsidy which I declined to apply for as a partial monthly payment because it is not for very much and I can simply claim it on my 2014 FIT return as an offset to any FIT I owe (something I learned thanks to you good people in this forum). I guess I will call them this week to confirm the issue is solely related to the subsidy.

 

[rbmrtn]

I talked with some folks I know that work in billing/coding at the hospital. They just laughed about the 834s. It's always been a problem, now the difference is the end user ( us ) is seeing the problem. The 834 is supposed to be standard, except it's not, every insurer tweaks their form. They said it takes sometimes 3-4 months with multiple submissions to get paid. And they don't just send it to the insurer, it has to go through multiple clearing houses in both directions. what a mess, it probably cost $500 to process a $20 flu shot.

 

[AllDone]

I talked with some folks I know that work in billing/coding at the hospital. They just laughed about the 834s. It's always been a problem, now the difference is the end user ( us ) is seeing the problem. The 834 is supposed to be standard, except it's not, every insurer tweaks their form. They said it takes sometimes 3-4 months with multiple submissions to get paid. And they don't just send it to the insurer, it has to go through multiple clearing houses in both directions. what a mess, it probably cost $500 to process a $20 flu shot.

The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation estimates that primary care physicians alone spend about $30B per year on insurance billing. I used to work for a large group practice which had an entire staff of people to bill insurance. What a mess.

 

[ziggy29]

Latest in the saga: I haven't paid yet though I have the option to do so. I am enrolled twice, yet in some sense not at all since I am not paid up and the plan I'm "officially" signed up for in the eyes of BCBSTX, I thought the phone rep at the Marketplace disenrolled me from -- well over a week ago.

Fighting the battle to get my American Indian status noted and noting that the "Report a Life Change" is still inoperable, I called to ask what could be done. They mentioned disenrolling and re-enrolling now that the website works better. I was afraid to do that at first, but eventually I called back to have them do that (by this time, the website option to unenroll myself was disabled). I then used an old login ID/application that was completed but never used for enrollment -- when I thought both my wife and me would need to be enrolled -- and I deleted its application and started over again. (This was on December 5.) It worked quickly and this time, it looks like it took my Indian status as it showed I could change plans every month and had no cost sharing (being under 300% of FPL, we expect, for 2014 -- and will aggressively fund IRAs to get us there; that is a huge "cliff" for us).

But no notification from BCBSTX came. Early last week I called (spent 2+ hours on hold) and once was disconnected while someone was looking into it. (He had already acknowledged that the November 16 enrollment (the first one) had an "active" status and the December 5 enrollment was "pending". (Pending *what*?)

Well, getting disconnected after 2 hours on hold ticked me off, and I popped off on BCBSTX's social media about it. Someone there asked me to PM my phone number. To my surprise, I got an "escalations specialist" (In Illinois!) who started helping me navigate through this. Best of all, perhaps, I got her direct line to use in the future when I have questions or need a status update, so no more hours on hold!

She's not sure at this point what needs to happen, but the techs they have and the Marketplace people are supposed to be working out the situation. She asked me not to pay the original invoice yet, since that would just "muck things up more" once we got the first enrollment rolled back and the second one in place. (I used slightly updated income estimates for the second enrollment, making my share about $15 more per month.) If I still don't have an answer within a couple days before the drop-dead date for making payments comes (she said that was December 23 now), I will just pay the first payment, making sure they process it and I don't "go naked" into January while they try to sort this out.

But at least I do have *some* option to pay, and a direct line to an escalations specialist. So even if it remains murky and mucked up for a while longer, I think I can avoid the worst-case scenario of being unable to pay or enroll and "going naked" in January and getting bankrupted when I'm hit by a bus on January 2.

 

[2retireearly]

I live in Virginia and....I might be almost COMPLETE! Enrolled Dec 4th (had issues before, because of my answering a question incorrectly....so once the 'delete application button' was available, then it has gone, 'ok'....except it keeps asking if I want Dental..I say 'no'..and the button stays Green, with Set on it,still asking if i want it (I have dental thru Delta, separately)..And of course the request to send my 2014 W2 (??), to prove my low taxable income...I downloaded my 'Congrats on your Retirement Letter' for August 16,2013, from my old company, and will send them in 2014, my doc on a small 401k withdrawal...but....I kept calling Anthem, so I could pay. They of course didn't have the feed yet...but when I called Health.gov today (Sunday) she said I have a POLICY NUMBER...yay..and after waiting on hold for a while, she was able to find the right phone number for Anthem, Healthkeepers (I never could find right number...). So HOPEFULLY (fingers crossed) when I call Anthem tomorrow, with my brand new pol number, I can pay my 1st (very low) premium by phone, and then really have insurance for Jan 1. I so hope so...Thanks to all on this forum who have shared their own experiences. What a nice camaraderie we have built up all over ACA.

 

[Htown Harry]

We have health care insurance.

Congrats, MichaelB. You certainly had plenty of good karma available for this result, after helping so many on the forum through the ACA process.

 

[REWahoo]

We have health care insurance.

"We have liftoff!"

 

[Accidental Retiree]

CC?! Really. The insurance carriers are accepting payment by credit card? Sweet!

Aetna has always charged our CCs monthly. I am hoping Anthem will permit the same.

 

[reubenray]

I am confirmed on our Dental with Humana. But I have not heard back from BCBSLA since I was told to send a check. It was sent about a week ago and has not shown up on my bank account yet. I need positive confirmation before I cancel my current policy.

 

[Trawler]

Was able to confirm that Medical Mutual recieved my enrollment from the Healthcare.gov website and I have my new ID# and Group #. They said I should get billing info this week. One more step to go. Yeah!!!

 

[MichaelB]

Congrats, MichaelB. You certainly had plenty of good karma available for this result, after helping so many on the forum through the ACA process.

Thanks.

 

[jflynn4]

So I was able to actually enroll during October and paid the initial premium (thru a BCBS billing) by the end of that month. In mid November, we received a letter from BCBS to my DW indicating enrollment and "assigning" a primary care physician. I called to inquire about "me" and to ask how we change the primary care physician to our own doctor (who is in the network). I'm told that they don't know why I wasn't sent a letter as well and that I needed to use the website to change physicians but that wouldn't be available to me until December 15. I was also told that if I didn't receive a welcome packet with ID cards by the 15th, to call them back to ensure no issues.

So, as of today, nothing received so I call them. After a 24 minute hold time, the representative assures me that everything is good in terms of enrollment but that she had no real idea of when a packet or ID cards would arrive and that (quote) "we've been educated to let new enrollees know that they will not be able to modify anything, including primary physician, until after January 1st."

So....I guess it sounds like perhaps the insurer is still getting itself together? I can imagine that if there is a 24 minute wait to speak with someone on December 16th, that it may well be mission impossible in early January when everything actually does hit the fan.

 

[MRG]

Well, getting disconnected after 2 hours on hold ticked me off, and I popped off on BCBSTX's social media about it. Someone there asked me to PM my phone number. To my surprise, I got an "escalations specialist" (In Illinois!) who started helping me navigate through this. Best of all, perhaps, I got her direct line to use in the future when I have questions or need a status update, so no more hours on hold!
.

Ziggy29, sorry to hear your continued problems. The social media idea is genius, being ignorant of social stuff, how did you get to them FB, Twitter?
Curious because a lot of big companies are monitoring social sites, just didn't know exactly where to start.

Thanks in advance,
MRG

 

[ziggy29]

Ziggy29, sorry to hear your continued problems. The social media idea is genius, being ignorant of social stuff, how did you get to them FB, Twitter?
Curious because a lot of big companies are monitoring social sites, just didn't know exactly where to start.

I posted a couple of things on their FB page about my frustration with getting hold of someone to try to complete enrollment with the "correct" application details. And that when I was on hold for over 2 hours, I talked to someone for a few minutes and while they put me on hold to check with another department on something, I got disconnected. I expressed frustration, they asked me to PM them with my phone number, and to my surprise, they actually did call me back the next day -- and the escalations person I talked to left me with a *direct* line to contact her moving forward. That alone felt like major progress.

Worst case I should be able to pay the premium based on my "active" enrollment with a $6K deductible and work to fix it to recognize my AI/AN status in the weeks/months ahead, so I'm not too afraid of being left out and forced to go naked. It would be nice to get it resolved once and for all, though -- and I still have a few days before the drop-dead date to pay (as long as the online payment option listed for me from my bank account actually works -- the deadline appears to be 12/23, so if I can pay by Friday, 12/20, just to be safe, I should at least be enrolled in *something*).