Anyone get a firm quote on the exchange yet?

[modhatter]

I was wondering if anyone who would qualify for a subsidy, has actually applied for insurance on line. I ask because on another forum, someone is saying that the Kaiser calculator is way off. He is saying when he plugs in his income, state, age, etc., the Kaiser calculator comes back saying he should receive a subsidy of $968 for the silver plan. He says, when he plugged his information into the actual exchange for purchasing a plan, his subsidy was only about $550.

Now I know there is a variance in the cost of plans you pick, but isn't the subsidy amount supposed to be calculated as a % of income. If not, how is it calculated? Has anyone gotten their subsidy amount verified? If so, did it resemble the subsidy amount shown on the Kaiser calculator? My understanding is the subsidy amount stays the same, and you can apply it to what ever plan you choose.

 

[scrabbler1]

The subsidy, if I have understood it correctly, is the amount over a percentage of your income. I got a firm quote after my application on the New York State exchange along with an estimated subsidy based on the income I provided. I chose not to have the subsidy applied on a monthly basis so I will reconcile it with my 2014 federal income tax return I file in early 2015.

 

[MRG]

I have to use federal exchange. No, haven't got an application completed yet. Let alone a quote. I'm ready but my data are corrupt. Waiting for a call Monday, not sure if I have a 5% chance of receiving said call. Patience, patience. ......

MRG

 

[kmt1972]

I tried to sign up in the NY site just to check out insurance premiums. Still did not get validated yet let alone seeing premiums. Has anyone out there got the premium prices for various plans on the NY exchange?

 

[rbmrtn]

Now I know there is a variance in the cost of plans you pick, but isn't the subsidy amount supposed to be calculated as a % of income. If not, how is it calculated? Has anyone gotten their subsidy amount verified? If so, did it resemble the subsidy amount shown on the Kaiser calculator? My understanding is the subsidy amount stays the same, and you can apply it to what ever plan you choose.

The total amount you pay for premium is limited to a % amount of income, on sliding scale below 400% FPL, capped at 9.5% of income. The subsidy is calculated based on the cost of the second lowest silver plan available to you.

Here is kaisers PDF http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/7962-02.pdf

 

[scrabbler1]

I tried to sign up in the NY site just to check out insurance premiums. Still did not get validated yet let alone seeing premiums. Has anyone out there got the premium prices for various plans on the NY exchange?

Try this link. It is a pdf file.

http://www.governor.ny.gov/assets/documents/Approved2014HealthInsuranceRates.pdf

It may interest you to know that the rate I ended up with was less than the one quoted (without any subsidy). I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[seraphim]

Finally got an account but they can't verify my identity.

 

[Sue J]

I have to use federal exchange. No, haven't got an application completed yet. Let alone a quote. I'm ready but my data are corrupt. Waiting for a call Monday, not sure if I have a 5% chance of receiving said call. Patience, patience. ......

MRG

I'm wondering if corrupt data could be the issue with my application. I'm stuck in the identity verification limbo. I'm currently waiting for my second round of escalated call backs from Healthcare.gov.

Last time I did get a call back but the representative had nothing to say about my issue, just repeated the excuse about the system having glitches, try logging in at off peak hours, blah, blah , blah.

I've tried off peak hours and I get "The System is down for Maintenance" message. When I can log in, sometimes my info is there, sometimes, not. Most times I can see my profile, rarely can I see my application info.

This would make an excellent Seinfeld episode. Jerry, Elaine and George can't get anywhere on the site, but Kramer logs in on his first try, submits an application and buys affordable health insurance. Two days later he even gets an official certificate of insurance and his plan details in a nicely bound packet in the mail.

 

[homebody]

Assuming you are still in the application phase on the Federal Exchange, and have not made it to the enrollment phase where you see your subsidy (if any) and select a plan:

If you are having trouble logging in, or getting through the ID Validation stage, or your application will not work correctly over several days, I would recommend the following:

1. Clear the cookies and temporary files from your browser. This cleared up my problems sometimes.
2. Try a different browser. If you are using FireFox, try Chrome for example. Some browsers I used gave me a blank page after login while others worked.
3. Make sure your Experian (for ID Validation) and Equifax (for Income Verification) credit files are unlocked or unfrozen at the credit bureau. If Experian is locked you will fail the ID validation. Equifax may cause a problem during Income Verification since it is part of that process in some cases.
4. Then, use a new email to create a new account and try again.
5. If you get the question about pet insurance during validation, and you didn't get pet insurance, select the none of these answer.

It took me about 5 accounts to get one to work right.

 

[donheff]

If I needed one of these accounts and had "corrupt" data or other failures, I would wait a while and then try re-registering under a new user name. Hopefully, they won't invalidate you because of a previously entered SSN in the corrupted effort.

 

[Throwdownmyaceinthehole]

A new selection has been added to preview plans and prices. I was surprised at rates around 500 a month in Texas for a BCBS silver. Of course you can't drill down to see the actual policy, but as I am facing $1200 thru cobra, this is a pleasant surprise. And this is without subsidy.

 

[perrytime]

Brevard Florida, Spent 2 hours filling out forms last night, came back with bronze family plan costing about $840 compared present sum of $500 for 2 policies. ( 2 adults in 50's and one 19 dependant)
Current policies are my individual policy 10,000 deduct, Wife and son's is 6500 deductible.
I figured I would see a rate increase, just because of my high deductible, but not so much.
did not look at subsidy.
Today I went direct to blueCross web site, at a glance it seemed like same plan was 940. I don't know why the difference.

 

[meierlde]

A new selection has been added to preview plans and prices. I was surprised at rates around 500 a month in Texas for a BCBS silver. Of course you can't drill down to see the actual policy, but as I am facing $1200 thru cobra, this is a pleasant surprise. And this is without subsidy.

However for Tx you can then go to the BCBS Tx web site and get details including networks etc.

 

[modhatter]

Try this link. It is a pdf file.

http://www.governor.ny.gov/assets/documents/Approved2014HealthInsuranceRates.pdf

It may interest you to know that the rate I ended up with was less than the one quoted (without any subsidy). I was pleasantly surprised.

So, I assume you are saying that you shopped plans off the exchange as well as those on the exchange, and that a plan on the exchange with a subsidy saved you money? Is that what you are saying, or am I missing something?

 

[scrabbler1]

So, I assume you are saying that you shopped plans off the exchange as well as those on the exchange, and that a plan on the exchange with a subsidy saved you money? Is that what you are saying, or am I missing something?

I did not shop for any plans off the exchange. With the subsidy, I'll be paying just over $300 per month for a Silver plan which is great.

 

[rockymountainhigh]

Still waiting for Colorado PEAK (Medicaid) to reject me (going on 8 business days) so I can resume filling out the market place info. The PEAK info had to be filled out before I could claim the advance tax credit. I am betting PEAK is getting slammed.

 

[gbstack]

I was able to complete all of the information on the exchange, but now I’m locked until I send the following information. I called and they said they think it’s a glitch in the system. I was told to wait several days.

You need to send the Marketplace proof of your yearly income for 2014. Examples of documents you can send include: Wages and tax statement (W-2)Pay stub Letter from employer Cost of living adjustment letter and other benefit verification notices Lease agreement Copy of a check paid to the household member Bank or investment fund statement Document or letter from
Social Security Administration (SSA)Form SSA 1099 Social Security benefits statement Self-employed ledger Letter from government agency for unemployment benefits
If you do not provide documentation by the following date, your eligibility for health care coverage may end: January 4, 2014

 

[ziggy29]

I'm to the point now where I can set my tax credit to use full/part/none toward the premium payments, but I need to change our status to reflect that DW doesn't need coverage, only me. If it doesn't glitch, some time after the 15th I can change the inputs and then set the tax credits and look at options.

 

[ziggy29]

Now it said you can update applications after NOVEMBER 15, not October 15. (Starting to cut it too close...)

So I submitted a new app with my new information. The problem is, when I say we are applying for ONE person in a joint-filing couple, it doesn't ask us about out insurance situation (where DW is covered but I am not). It tells you to have your employer fill out a form and then you use it to submit "additional information" about your insurance situation and your spouse's. But it's not prompting for any of that! It's going straight to the "review and sign" part and not only NOT showing any available subsidy, but also not asking for proof of Indian status for me (as it did when we originally applied for insurance for both of us).

Will have to call next week, and they will probably say we have to start a new application from scratch (or worse, tell me "the web site is glitched, try again later....)

 

[bpgdeg1234]

I was able to complete all of the information on the exchange, but now I’m locked until I send the following information. I called and they said they think it’s a glitch in the system. I was told to wait several days.

You need to send the Marketplace proof of your yearly income for 2014. Examples of documents you can send include: Wages and tax statement (W-2)Pay stub Letter from employer Cost of living adjustment letter and other benefit verification notices Lease agreement Copy of a check paid to the household member Bank or investment fund statement Document or letter from
Social Security Administration (SSA)Form SSA 1099 Social Security benefits statement Self-employed ledger Letter from government agency for unemployment benefits
If you do not provide documentation by the following date, your eligibility for health care coverage may end: January 4, 2014

I also got to this same stage yesterday with request for additional documentation for 2014 income but was able to set the amount of subsidy I want upfront and also was able to review available plan offerings with subsidy applied. In general I assume they want additional documentation since income is different than 2012?

 

[bpgdeg1234]

Now it said you can update applications after NOVEMBER 15, not October 15. (Starting to cut it too close...)

So I submitted a new app with my new information. The problem is, when I say we are applying for ONE person in a joint-filing couple, it doesn't ask us about out insurance situation (where DW is covered but I am not). It tells you to have your employer fill out a form and then you use it to submit "additional information" about your insurance situation and your spouse's. But it's not prompting for any of that! It's going straight to the "review and sign" part and not only NOT showing any available subsidy, but also not asking for proof of Indian status for me (as it did when we originally applied for insurance for both of us).

Will have to call next week, and they will probably say we have to start a new application from scratch (or worse, tell me "the web site is glitched, try again later....)

So you can submit more than one application with different factors? I was also considering evaluating what the cost for only my DW and children via the Exchange would be (versus all of us which I have successfully done). Is this doable and is this under same account or different account?

 

[tinlizzy]

Now it said you can update applications after NOVEMBER 15, not October 15. (Starting to cut it too close...)

So I submitted a new app with my new information. The problem is, when I say we are applying for ONE person in a joint-filing couple, it doesn't ask us about out insurance situation (where DW is covered but I am not). It tells you to have your employer fill out a form and then you use it to submit "additional information" about your insurance situation and your spouse's. But it's not prompting for any of that! It's going straight to the "review and sign" part and not only NOT showing any available subsidy, but also not asking for proof of Indian status for me (as it did when we originally applied for insurance for both of us).

Will have to call next week, and they will probably say we have to start a new application from scratch (or worse, tell me "the web site is glitched, try again later....)

Does your wife's employer offer a family plan? I'm pretty sure you will not qualify for the exchange/subsidies if you have a plan available to you.