Were you successful in the ACA signup

MildlyEccentric said:
I began trying to signup on healthcare.gov at midnight on October 1. I work with computers, so I can generally get through an online form. This was not the case for Healthcare.gov. Despite repeated attempts and multiple calls to the help desk, I was never able to successfully complete an online application. However, I was able to register easily through the 800 number. Ultimately, I decided to keep my current COBRA coverage as it was a bit less than the comparable unsubsidized options.

I also assisted my 28 year old son with his application. He could not successfully complete the online application, but easily registered through the 800 number around the third week in December. We mailed in his first month premium and he has coverage starting January 1. We received his insurance card on January 11th. His old insurance was a catastrophic plan with GoldenRule for approximately $160/month. The full price for his new insurance with Innovation Health is $171. Because we are in a non-Medicaid state, he currently is not elegible for any subsidy (income is too low). I anticipate he will eventually qualify for a federal subsidy which would lower his monthly premium to $34.
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If his state does not expand Medicaid and your son's income is still below 138% of PL next year, then overestimate his income for the application. That will get him the subsidy and there will be no penalty for over estimating.

Also, I'm a retired doc. My old practice was very large and very well respected and we were contracted with the state/county version of Medicaid for a given number of patients every year. The care that we provided was irrespective of insurance status. We had very little trouble refering Medicaid patients to most of our regular specialty providers either.
 
AllDone said:
If his state does not expand Medicaid and your son's income is still below 138% of PL next year, then overestimate his income for the application. That will get him the subsidy and there will be no penalty for over estimating. Also, I'm a retired doc. My old practice was very large and very well respected and we were contracted with the state/county version of Medicaid for a given number of patients every year. The care that we provided was irrespective of insurance status. We had very little trouble refering Medicaid patients to most of our regular specialty providers either.
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I've heard Medicaid has a recapture clause meaning that your estate may have to pay back something to the state.
I would think most Medicaid recipients don't have much in assets but a lot may own a house.
Anyone hear about this?
 
Refresher said:
I've heard Medicaid has a recapture clause meaning that your estate may have to pay back something to the state.
I would think most Medicaid recipients don't have much in assets but a lot may own a house.
Anyone hear about this?
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You may want to read this....
Medicaid Estate Recovery

Here are two snippets...

Highlights of the 1993 Estate Recovery Mandate:

States must pursue recovering costs for medical assistance consisting of:

Nursing home or other long-term institutional services;
Home- and community-based services;
Hospital and prescription drug services provided while the recipient was receiving nursing facility or home- and community-based services; and
At State option, any other items covered by the Medicaid State Plan.
At a minimum, states must recover from assets that pass through probate (which is governed by state law). At a maximum, states may recover any assets of the deceased recipient.


States are prohibited from making estate recoveries:

During the lifetime of the surviving spouse (no matter where he or she lives).
From a surviving child who is under age 21, or is blind or permanently disabled (according to the SSI/Medicaid definition of “disability”), no matter where he or she lives.
In the case of the former home of the recipient, when a sibling with an equity interest in the home has lived in the home for at least 1 year immediately before the deceased Medicaid recipient was institutionalized and has lawfully resided in the home continuously since the date of the recipient's admission.
In the case of the former home of the recipient, when an adult child has lived in the home for at least 2 years immediately before the deceased Medicaid recipient was institutionalized, has lived there continuously since that time, and can establish to the satisfaction of the State that he or she provided care that may have delayed the recipient’s admission to the nursing home or other medical institution.
 
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Estate recovery was an issue when my MIL went into a nursing home briefly before entering hospice care. The above snippets of the law are a little misleading. Medicaid recovery applies to people who start Medicaid at 55 or older. The state can recover it's Medicaid costs from the person's estate as long as they do not have a surviving spouse, minor child or disabled child. Costs are recovered from the estate after the second spouse dies or the healthy minor child becomes an adult. Usually this applies to people with a home but low income. This way a low income spouse can remain in the home while the other spouse receives nursing home care. Effectively, they get a no interest loan against their home which comes due after the second spouse's death. Medicaid cost sharing (low income seniors and disabled are eligible for Medicaid to cover a form of Medi-gap insurance) is not subject to estate recovery.

If you are manipulating your income to qualify for Medicaid while sitting on a large pile of assets, you should be aware that the state has the first cut of the money on the death of your spouse. If you are manipulating your income to qualify for ACA subsidies, this estate recovery does not apply. In either case, it might be a good idea to discuss your plan with a lawyer.
 
Avoid Waiting on Hold

Here's a great web site -- they will call Anthem Blue Cross California for you, wait on hold, then phone you when there is a person ready to talk to you.

Anthem Blue Cross - California Calls You Instead | GetHuman.com

skeleton2.jpg


Still no charges for me...
 
And today I got an "Immediately Due" bill saying the policy will be cancelled if payment not received by the due date (and the due date is "Due Immediately.").
 
TromboneAl said:
And today I got an "Immediately Due" bill saying the policy will be cancelled if payment not received by the due date (and the due date is "Due Immediately.").
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How is it that we know you've paid 3 times and they don't know this yet?

I'm starting to think someone at your insurance company is pulling a prank on you. You really have 3 policies, all paid.
 
MildlyEccentric said:
I began trying to signup on healthcare.gov at midnight on October 1. I work with computers, so I can generally get through an online form. This was not the case for Healthcare.gov. Despite repeated attempts and multiple calls to the help desk, I was never able to successfully complete an online application...
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I am glad I never bothered to even try to sign up, just from reading stories like yours. Surely, some people were able to get through but with my luck, which was never in abundance, I would be driven insane or died of a heart attack due to the aggravation.

Why couldn't they let people deal directly with the insurer, then settle the financial aspect with the IRS later as has been the case with mortgage deduction, various college tuition credits, etc...? Is this a gauntlet to ensure only the people most worthy and most determined would get through, while the weak, the impatient, the easily discouraged like myself would get screened out? Hence I did not even try, as I most likely would fail.

I may try again next year, but right now I want to kiss the provider of my grandfathered policy on the cheek. He pulled out completely off California, but kept the business in my state. :smitten:
 
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We presently have coverage thru my former employer's retirement health plan. I am in the process of at least applying for ACA for my family. I called the help desk regarding my son (20 yrs. old)who we declare as a dependent on our tax forms but he does fill his own tax return. The ACA help desk rep said this could hold my the ACA application. Her suggestion was to include our son' income in my/wife's future tax returns and there would be no holdup in the aca app. This does not make sense to me. Has anyone heard of this before?
 
golfnut said:
We presently have coverage thru my former employer's retirement health plan. I am in the process of at least applying for ACA for my family. I called the help desk regarding my son (20 yrs. old)who we declare as a dependent on our tax forms but he does fill his own tax return. The ACA help desk rep said this could hold my the ACA application. Her suggestion was to include our son' income in my/wife's future tax returns and there would be no holdup in the aca app. This does not make sense to me. Has anyone heard of this before?
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Not heard that, but;
Does it has to do with subsidy eligibility? Give their suggestion a go, can it hurt?
Best wishes,
MRG
 
We got our new ID cards. They were forwarded on Dec 28, so they must have been mailed very late in the month.

We FINALLY got hold of a human by DH calling a few minutes before they opened. Wait time was less than 15 mins. They (said they) fixed the double billing issue - yes, it was supposed to happen automatically, but it turned out their new system didn't talk to their old system..... (So they had to go in and cancel DH's old policy)

We also checked on the bank draft setup for our payments. DHs account info wasn't in the system that the associate could see - so she took that info. Same for me - even though they drafted my initial payment.

So clearly BCBSTX has had a bunch of issues with their IT systems - and BTW they switched to a new system this year.

We might be all set........
 
Finally got my Anthem CA id cards (actually received in mail this past Saturday). Registered online for the new policy, and noticed that there's basically no information about the policy on line. Also received zero additional pieces of documentation with my id cards. I assume, at some later point in time, they will send me more details about my policy, but as of now, just glad to have ID cards.

Also, still have not been charged for anything. I'm not too surprised that the govt. screwed up the launch as bad as they did, but must admit that I'm surprised by Anthem's incompetence in this...
 
Some good news in my trying to get somewhere with Anthem (Empire BCBS) and my enrollment.

I got an email back from the Anthem rep who gave me my ACN last week. She confirmed my payment and gave me an actual policy ID. I tried to print out a temporary ID but got an error message from their system stating "this feature was unavailable now." Gee, what a surprise, another obstacle. I did request ID cards be sent to me.

I still need the welcome package, too. One step at a time......
 
golfnut said:
We presently have coverage thru my former employer's retirement health plan. I am in the process of at least applying for ACA for my family. I called the help desk regarding my son (20 yrs. old)who we declare as a dependent on our tax forms but he does fill his own tax return. The ACA help desk rep said this could hold my the ACA application. Her suggestion was to include our son' income in my/wife's future tax returns and there would be no holdup in the aca app. This does not make sense to me. Has anyone heard of this before?
Click to expand...
Subsidies are based on family income.
 
golfnut said:
We presently have coverage thru my former employer's retirement health plan. I am in the process of at least applying for ACA for my family. I called the help desk regarding my son (20 yrs. old)who we declare as a dependent on our tax forms but he does fill his own tax return. The ACA help desk rep said this could hold my the ACA application. Her suggestion was to include our son' income in my/wife's future tax returns and there would be no holdup in the aca app. This does not make sense to me. Has anyone heard of this before?
Click to expand...

The idea, I think, is that if you are to claim him as a dependent on your tax return and you want to include him in your application for a tax credit (subsidy), you need to include his income as part of the household income in the process.

https://www.healthcare.gov/what-inc...rovide-when-i-apply-for-marketplace-coverage/

When you apply for lower costs in the Marketplace, you’ll need to estimate your income for 2014.

You can start by adding up the following items for:

You and your spouse, if you are married and will file a joint tax return
Any dependents who make enough money to be required to file a tax return
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So to include a child as a dependent on your Marketplace application for ACA purposes, you apparently need to (a) include their income in your household income using IRS Form 8814. I think the suggestion was that having all the income on one tax return might uncomplicate the process, but it could also add enough additional tax burden so as to negate any tax credits from HI subsidies so it may not be worth it. Grab a spreadsheet, run the numbers both ways and see if the savings in HI premiums would be worth the possible higher tax rates of including his income on your return.
 
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Fourth Time's The Charm

I finally got Anthem BCBS CA to take our money. I was able to get into out account on their site, set up ePay, see the bill, and pay it. It was debited from our checking account today.

"Hey, Al," you may say, "They told you everything was fine, why didn't you just wait for them to eventually charge your card/checking account instead of paying four times?"

1. It's very unlikely, but BCBS could be dumb enough to cancel my policy, saying I never paid. Their bill explicitly stated that they hadn't received any payment.

BCBS has a deep reservoir of dumbness to draw on. For example, it states on their bill that "If you applied for coverage through the Exchange, you will have to make addresses changes through the Exchange."

2. Interest rates are so low that any income I'd receive on the extra $196 is negligible.

3. I'd rather argue about getting credit for the extra payments than argue about getting payment for a new liver.
 
ziggy29 said:
The idea, I think, is that if you are to claim him as a dependent on your tax return and you want to include him in your application for a tax credit (subsidy), you need to include his income as part of the household income in the process.

https://www.healthcare.gov/what-inc...rovide-when-i-apply-for-marketplace-coverage/



So to include a child as a dependent on your Marketplace application for ACA purposes, you apparently need to (a) include their income in your household income using IRS Form 8814. I think the suggestion was that having all the income on one tax return might uncomplicate the process, but it could also add enough additional tax burden so as to negate any tax credits from HI subsidies so it may not be worth it. Grab a spreadsheet, run the numbers both ways and see if the savings in HI premiums would be worth the possible higher tax rates of including his income on your return.
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Thanks a lot for this. Makes sense, I guess.
 
Just got a call from Anthem. (At least they are calling me now instead of my trying to call them and get put on hold.) After the obligatory apologies for slow service, she was able to answer some additional questions. She said the posting of my payment triggers the release of a Welcome Package and ID cards which I should be receiving any day now. We also discussed how I should pay my February payment if I do not receive a premium notice more than a few days before Feb 1.

So things are looking up, slowly......
 
I just called our insurer to ask about how to make the February payment. On the site there is a link to Intuit Xpress Bill Pay but the link goes nowhere. I set up an Xpress Bill Pay account but the insurer is not one of their listed businesses to pay.

The customer rep told me that none of the payment system is active yet. They hope to send out invoices by the end of January. If they don't, I'll just mail a check like I did for the January payment.

She was genuinely surprised that someone was looking to pay a bill early!
 
TromboneAl said:
I finally got Anthem BCBS CA to take our money. I was able to get into out account on their site, set up ePay, see the bill, and pay it. It was debited from our checking account today.

"Hey, Al," you may say, "They told you everything was fine, why didn't you just wait for them to eventually charge your card/checking account instead of paying four times?"

1. It's very unlikely, but BCBS could be dumb enough to cancel my policy, saying I never paid. Their bill explicitly stated that they hadn't received any payment.

BCBS has a deep reservoir of dumbness to draw on. For example, it states on their bill that "If you applied for coverage through the Exchange, you will have to make addresses changes through the Exchange."

2. Interest rates are so low that any income I'd receive on the extra $196 is negligible.

3. I'd rather argue about getting credit for the extra payments than argue about getting payment for a new liver.
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TromboneAl: Would you tell me if your payment took overnight to post? I logged in to Anthem this morning after seeing your post (Thanks!) and paid with a checking account. I got a nice payment confirmation but it still has not posted on our bank account.:( Usually those payments at Costco or wherever post almost immediately.
 
Sue J said:
The customer rep told me that none of the payment system is active yet. They hope to send out invoices by the end of January. If they don't, I'll just mail a check like I did for the January payment.

She was genuinely surprised that someone was looking to pay a bill early!
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The good news is, once you have established a policy by applying, enrolling and making the first payment, you will not be unenrolled for nonpayment until 90 days have passed, so if they continue to have problems causing late payments, it would take a while before you would be kicked out. The insurer pays the claims for the first 30 days past due, and in days 31-90 your coverage is still not terminated but the insurer does not pay the claim until you make up the arrears and get current on your payments (the claims will remain "pending" and not paid out to the provider). Only after premiums are more than 90 days past due will you be disenrolled.

And for what it's worth, I think people are only "looking to pay a bill early" because we don't yet have confidence that the payments will be posted and acknowledged correctly and in a timely manner!
 
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