Were you successful in the ACA signup

[MRG]

Thanks.
BCBSKC actually gave me a welcome call today. Wanted to know if I had card, welcome pack etc. She confirmed my January payment, she asked about February. Let her know I'd paid, she confirmed and noticed I'd set up monthly payments. Started talking about signing on to their site, let her know I'd had created an account. Asked if I had a PCP, in plan, even offered to check it. Got the impression she hadn't talked to many folks that were done.

Guess their not as busy in the welcome department of the business.
MRG

 

[steelhead]

Anthem finally took my payment! I can hardly believe it. Thanks for the tip TromboneAl.

 

[HGTVfan]

So far so good with my new Aetna policy. I saw my specialist this week and it was nice to have a $30 co-pay instead of $60.

I signed up on Aetna's website to automatically charge my premiums to a credit card, but I am going to call to make sure I did it correctly. There was a box to check that said auto draft, which to me sounds more like an automatic deduction from a bank account. But I checked the box. I just want to make sure that my next bill gets paid on time.

 

[TromboneAl]

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.

No, it took one additional day or so, as you found.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Finally our REAL ID cards arrived from Anthem BC of California.

 

[gardenfun]

Finally our REAL ID cards arrived from Anthem BC of California.

Congratulations, AR!! Did you ever get charged?

No cards for me from Blue Shield yet, but I do have an ID number that I carry around on a piece of paper.

And I've received several "do not reply" emails from them asking about my email preferences. Glad they have their priorities straight!

 

[brewer12345]

After signing up with Kaiser last week I called today to try to pay my first premium for coverage starting 2/1. They could see my account in the system, but an invoice had not yet prepared so they could not yet take my money. Told me to call back Wednesday.

 

[M Paquette]

After signing up with Kaiser last week I called today to try to pay my first premium for coverage starting 2/1. They could see my account in the system, but an invoice had not yet prepared so they could not yet take my money. Told me to call back Wednesday.

It's been taking them 7-10 business days to get through 'the process'. Canceling our old Kaiser policies is supposed to take a similar amount of time.

We just found out that each of us has to call and cancel the old coverage. It's not automatic on enrolling in a new plan, contrary to what was implied in a call we made last year. So, yesterday we all gathered around the speakerphone and speed-dialed till we got past the 'all operators are busy, please try your call again later' message. Once in the queue, we only had to wait 7-8 minutes, then we got a customer service rep to go through the 'Do you want to cancel your coverage on the old plan effective January 1, 2014" drill for each of us. We each had our own individual plan, as when we first enrolled the 'family coverage' option wasn't available to us.

In theory this will leave us with a family plan bought through CoveredCa.com.

I do feel sorry for all the customer service reps. This has to be the largest policy rollover and synchronized set of changes that Kaiser has ever had.

 

[NoMoreJob]

..........We just found out that each of us has to call and cancel the old coverage. It's not automatic on enrolling in a new plan, contrary to what was implied in a call we made last year. So, yesterday we all gathered around the speakerphone and speed-dialed till we got past the 'all operators are busy, please try your call again later' message. Once in the queue, we only had to wait 7-8 minutes, then we got a customer service rep to go through the 'Do you want to cancel your coverage on the old plan effective January 1, 2014" drill for each of us. We each had our own individual plan, as when we first enrolled the 'family coverage' option wasn't available to us.

In theory this will leave us with a family plan bought through CoveredCa.com.

We had individual online logins for our 2013 policies and were able to send a note through our online accounts to customer service. Both my wife and I did that (separate policies at that time) and received prompt acknowledgements that our policies would canceled retroactive to January 1, 2014.

 

[joe8012]

I finally got my identity verifed in mid December. My anticipated sticker shock came true. Luckly, I purchased a NON aca compliant plan 10K ded for wife and I for less then $500 month starting 12/31/13. Similar ACA plan with 12500 ded was over $1200 a month. I have to wonder how much of this $700 premium difference is do to underwriting and how much is do to the other perks like maternity care and drug abuse care and other care that a senior would not use.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Finally!

Congratulations, AR!! Did you ever get charged?

No cards for me from Blue Shield yet, but I do have an ID number that I carry around on a piece of paper.

And I've received several "do not reply" emails from them asking about my email preferences. Glad they have their priorities straight!

Just now got an email notification from Chase that I got charged for my insurance. WOW.

 

[audreyh1]

It's been taking them 7-10 business days to get through 'the process'. Canceling our old Kaiser policies is supposed to take a similar amount of time.

We just found out that each of us has to call and cancel the old coverage. It's not automatic on enrolling in a new plan, contrary to what was implied in a call we made last year. So, yesterday we all gathered around the speakerphone and speed-dialed till we got past the 'all operators are busy, please try your call again later' message. Once in the queue, we only had to wait 7-8 minutes, then we got a customer service rep to go through the 'Do you want to cancel your coverage on the old plan effective January 1, 2014" drill for each of us. We each had our own individual plan, as when we first enrolled the 'family coverage' option wasn't available to us.

In theory this will leave us with a family plan bought through CoveredCa.com.

I do feel sorry for all the customer service reps. This has to be the largest policy rollover and synchronized set of changes that Kaiser has ever had.

It was SUPPOSED to work that way at BCBSTX as the person on the phone admitted, but didn't. She had to retroactively cancel DH's old plan. I can just imagine the crap their phone people have had to go through after the start of the year and a bunch of people got double billed like we did.

 

[scrabbler1]

I am still waiting for my ID cards, my welcome package, and the February premium notice. But BCBSNY sent me another premium notice for the default plan I did NOT sign up for, the one they tried to roll me into once the non-ACA compliant plan expired on 12/31/13. This was the policy the rep told me not to pay last month when I received the first one.

What a bunch of dingbats!

 

[brewer12345]

I finally got Kaiser to accept my premium over the phone for the month of February. They took a Debit card charge and I was able to log in without a customer number, bill, etc.

 

[M Paquette]

I finally got Kaiser to accept my premium over the phone for the month of February. They took a Debit card charge and I was able to log in without a customer number, bill, etc.

I may have to do this. The February bill hasn't shown up in the mail or online yet. They may just be slightly backed up...

 

[brewer12345]

I may have to do this. The February bill hasn't shown up in the mail or online yet. They may just be slightly backed up...

When I called in the automated message indicated that they have now extended the deadline for payment of coverage starting Jan 1 to 1/31. I would say they are struggling.

 

[MichaelB]

I'll have to call for my February payment. No bill has arrived by mail or email, the online account indicates a balance due with a Feb 1 due date, but there is no way to pay and most clicks lead to an error page.

 

[scrabbler1]

I am still waiting for my ID cards, my welcome package, and the February premium notice. But BCBSNY sent me another premium notice for the default plan I did NOT sign up for, the one they tried to roll me into once the non-ACA compliant plan expired on 12/31/13. This was the policy the rep told me not to pay last month when I received the first one.

What a bunch of dingbats!

I received a permanent ID card in the mail yesterday (Friday). Yay! One time down, two to go. I can still make the February payment without a premium notice, just like I did with the January payment. Maybe this will be the norm?

But the welcome package is far more important because it has a list of doctors and other detailed informaiton about my policy.

 

[audreyh1]

We're also dealing with payment headaches. I called to verify that bank draft was set up - and nope! even though I gave the account numbers two weeks ago (again). Neither of us is able to pay our bill online from bank draft - we get a pretty generic error message. I set up bill pay from my bank, and am hoping that will work. My ID number should be sufficient - we'll see. The bank bill pay seemed to recognize the insurance company name and wouldn't accept an address. Hopefully the payment will appear credited toward my account.

 

[Sue J]

Got my invoice in the mail for the Feb. payment. Wrote the check and sent it back with the tear off portion of the bill. The only identifying info was our group number and DH's name. No ID number or bar code, which surprised me. How are they going to process all these payments? Someone is going to have to open the envelope and enter the group number, name and amount and match it to our policy. Seems awfully labor intensive. Online payments or automatic ACHs are so much easier.

All other uses of this checking account are ACH. I write so few checks that I had to cross out the 19__ and write in 2014.

I hope they get their online payment system fixed by March.......or July. In the meantime I can write a check and use a stamp. I'm just glad healthcare.gov got fixed enough to get the insurance.

 

[brewer12345]

Although I paid via phone two days ago, I got a paper bill today which I imagine was in the mail by the time I paid. The bank account shows the debit for the premium, so I am hopeful this is all going well.

 

[MRG]

I keep getting insurance bills, January, February, via check. I set up a monthly CC charge, then they billed me for March.

I have gone to DRs, paid for prescriptions, received EOBs. I guess it's working.
MRG

 

[gardenfun]

So in today's mail is a "bill" from Aetna, who last June informed us individual policy holders in CA that they would not offer those policies starting Jan. 1, 2014.

The bill is for February, but thankfully it says $0.00 due.

I'm getting bills for Blue Shield CA, my Covered California choice. Still no welcome package.

It just makes me wonder what the insurance companies have been doing all year. I know we all were disappointed with what the federal government did (or did not) do with the healthcare.gov website. But the insurance companies themselves haven't done a great job either.

Aetna had the whole year to get their IT systems in gear to NOT send us bills after they canceled us. sheesh.

 

[ziggy29]

Just got a refund check from BCBSTX today. When I saw my enrollment looked successful in late December and I couldn't pay with my bank account on the website, I paid January's premium by credit card on December 28 and ate a $9.95 charge for it. (Normally I wouldn't do that but given the potential stakes I wanted something that gave me proof and confirmation that I paid.)

The letter I got today said the vendor processing these payments "voluntarily" waived their fee for January payments and a check for $9.95 is sitting on my desk now....

(I paid for February with a mailed check a few days ago and it already posted to my account. Looks like we're finally stabilizing.)

 

[rbmrtn]

The letter I got today said the vendor processing these payments "voluntarily" waived their fee for January payments and a check for $9.95 is sitting on my desk now....

(I paid for February with a mailed check a few days ago and it already posted to my account. Looks like we're finally stabilizing.)

Do you know who the 3rd party is ? For mine , the bill I receive says pay by check, phone or "Debit Card". I used the online payment they have, it takes me to an emdeon site. Emdeon is one of the middle man processors for insurance claims. On that site it took my CC with no mention of a fee. Made two payments so far and both invoices show payed and the CC charges showed up.