Were you successful in the ACA signup

[Texas Proud]

I am still waiting to get info from BCBS Texas.... they did send me an email, but nothing else...


I have seen nothing from the Dental plan...


Will start to call next week if nothing shows up soon...

 

[rbmrtn]

signing up for a bronze plan (even though the premiums are about 60% more than the catastrophic plan premiums).

I was curious as to what premiums you were seeing with a catastrophic plan. We don't even have one being offered. I have bronze but from what I can see it would not be much different than a catastrophic ( deductible, OOP is the same ). And no tax credits for a catastrophic plans.

ACA Bronze Tier Health Insurance vs. Catastrophic Plans - US News

 

[Chuckanut]

I will say, the process of buying health insurance from the exchange on the internet has been by far the absolute worst process ever in comparison to other purchase, banking and investment transactions I routinely have done via the internet for many years. Hopefully they will fix everything before the next open enrollment period this fall.

I know several people who have bought through a state exchange. For some it went as smooth and fast as greased lightning. For the other half, there seemed to be one problem after another. But, all did end up with insurance.

 

[pb4uski]

I was curious as to what premiums you were seeing with a catastrophic plan. We don't even have one being offered. I have bronze but from what I can see it would not be much different than a catastrophic ( deductible, OOP is the same ). And no tax credits for a catastrophic plans.

For a couple, the bronze plan is $683 a month. The cat plan is $427. The benefits, Max OOPs etc are broadly similar. The only real downside to the cat plan is that it is not HSA eligible whereas the bronze plan is HSA eligible, but I don't consider being able to contribute to my HSA worth paying $3,100 more a year in premium.

Subsidy is not a factor for us as our Roth conversions take us over 400% FPL.

 

[Rena]

I actually put off going through the exchange as I was hoping to be approved for a private insurance plan. After jumping through hoops for that I was turned down.

I then went to the healthcare.gov site with much dread and within an hour and a half had insurance. I must have hit it at just the right time. But, where do they come up with the term "affordable" ? Not! The thing is I am insured with BCBS and have had relitively little problems with paying my premiums etc.

 

[MBSC]

On 3/19/14, I spent 35 minutes creating an account and enrolling in an individual plan on the federal portal of Healthcare.gov. I had previously spent a couple of hours combing through network provider directories to determine the plan I would choose. On 3/27, I received a welcome letter and bill for the first month (May) dated 3/21 and postmarked 3/26. The insurer is BlueChoice, a division of BCBS of South Carolina. Today, I registered on their website, made the payment by cash back credit card, and received a confirmation number. The welcome letter states I will receive an ID card after the payment processes.

 

[ERhoosier]

I was curious as to what premiums you were seeing with a catastrophic plan. We don't even have one being offered. I have bronze but from what I can see it would not be much different than a catastrophic ( deductible, OOP is the same ). And no tax credits for a catastrophic plans.

ACA Bronze Tier Health Insurance vs. Catastrophic Plans - US News

For my region & AG, the catastrophic plans did not seem to offer significantly lower premiums than Bronze.

 

[meierlde]

For my region & AG, the catastrophic plans did not seem to offer significantly lower premiums than Bronze.

To check the catastrophic premiums go to ehealthinsurance.com and compare the rates for 25 year olds. Where I live the cat plan costs $2 less per month than a bronze plan, which sort of makes sense since the difference in deductable is all of $350 different (using Tx Blue Cross) and 46 a month for Humana, with a $50 difference in the deductable. If cat were available for older folks multiply the differences by 3.

 

[TimSF]

Cards arrived in the mail this past week. So it's officially official.

 

[Texas Proud]

Well, things seem to be stuck at BCBS for some reason....


And when I call, the wait time is over 60 minutes... sooooo, still in limbo.... what a great way to run such a big part of the economy....


I did get in touch with the dental insurance (on hold for only 20 or so minutes) and was able to make my first payment, so we are covered there....

 

[sengsational]

Well, things seem to be stuck at BCBS for some reason....


And when I call, the wait time is over 60 minutes... sooooo, still in limbo.... what a great way to run such a big part of the economy....


I did get in touch with the dental insurance (on hold for only 20 or so minutes) and was able to make my first payment, so we are covered there....

I finally got my ID from BCBS NC, but it took paying the first month twice (they simply lost my first CC payment, so had to let them draft my bank...yikes!). Then they sent me my first monthly bill dated 3/26 with a due date of 3/1. BCBS:HUA

 

[Texas Proud]

I finally got my ID from BCBS NC, but it took paying the first month twice (they simply lost my first CC payment, so had to let them draft my bank...yikes!). Then they sent me my first monthly bill dated 3/26 with a due date of 3/1. BCBS:HUA

There is an online status of the process... and mine has been sitting there for 18 days... they say 5 to 10 days.... was calling to see what the problem is, but call volume is so high they just do not get to you... seems no way to send an email to find out either...


I could live with paying twice as that would get fixed eventually.... not knowing if you have insurance or not is not good...

 

[chris66]

I decided at the beginning of the month that I was leaving my job. I signed up for ACA before the 15th, so it would be in effect by 4/1. Had a little snafu at first, in that I listed my coverage thru work ending 4/1, and so the online app wanted to have the ACA coverage in effect 5/1. Changed my old coverage to end 3/31 (which it will), and this second time through the online app, the ACA had the desired effective date of 4/1. Paid first payment by CC, to have it processed quickly. Already have my ID. Was pretty painless for me. Maybe they are starting to get the bugs worked out...

 

[explanade]

So can people sign up between April and October too?

I know they had some kind of deadline to the end of this month and next year's signup begins in the fall, like Open Enrollment.

But surely they would take people who want to enroll in the summer months?

 

[MichaelB]

So can people sign up between April and October too?

I know they had some kind of deadline to the end of this month and next year's signup begins in the fall, like Open Enrollment.

But surely they would take people who want to enroll in the summer months?

Here's a list of qualifying events that allow you to get a new policy outside of the annual open enrollment period. http://www.hr.mnscu.edu/insurance/documents/Qualifying_Life_Even.pdf

 

[easysurfer]

I finally got my ID from BCBS NC, but it took paying the first month twice (they simply lost my first CC payment, so had to let them draft my bank...yikes!). Then they sent me my first monthly bill dated 3/26 with a due date of 3/1. BCBS:HUA

I'm at a different state, but with BCBS too and they finally got my payment preference right. In my case, I want them to take the payment monthly from my checking. When I signed up and after subsequent phone calls, I was told that was taken cared of. Finally, the draft is scheduled starting April.

 

[sengsational]

There is an online status of the process... and mine has been sitting there for 18 days... they say 5 to 10 days.... was calling to see what the problem is, but call volume is so high they just do not get to you... seems no way to send an email to find out either..

Yeah, I'm with ya on the imbalance between call volume and call handlers! And same here: absolutely no way to do anything through another channel (i.e. email)...only call and wait, and wait, and wait.

When I did get through (required waiting through another call queue), they thanked me for being proactive with making sure I had paid! Since I had not got my ID yet, I wanted "proof" that I was insured. I'm pretty sure if I had not called, they'd have cancelled my policy.

So as for the lessons for ACA sign-up, I have a feeling that the new ACA call volume has the potential to swamp the insurance sellers. I was asked multiple times and on multiple calls "did you request the policy on the healthcare.gov site" (yes). That tells me that the internal order processing at the insurer is significantly different than if they sold you the policy directly. Supposedly, though, no matter how the policy was acquired, the service you get at a health care provider and the service you get at the insurance company should be the same. I'd be really steamed if I were a long-time customer, used to reasonable response when I called, and now I'm getting such degraded service.

I hope you get your situation aligned, TP. Looking for a "success" post here!

 

[sengsational]

...Finally, the draft is scheduled starting April.

Yeah, they have indicated various things to me that didn't pan-out, so I'd double check that. I should have been from Missouri, the 'show me' state, hehe, because I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[pb4uski]

I was curious as to what premiums you were seeing with a catastrophic plan. We don't even have one being offered. I have bronze but from what I can see it would not be much different than a catastrophic ( deductible, OOP is the same ). And no tax credits for a catastrophic plans.

ACA Bronze Tier Health Insurance vs. Catastrophic Plans - US News

For a couple, the bronze plan is $683 a month. The cat plan is $427. The benefits, Max OOPs etc are broadly similar. The only real downside to the cat plan is that it is not HSA eligible whereas the bronze plan is HSA eligible, but I don't consider being able to contribute to my HSA worth paying $3,100 more a year in premium.

Subsidy is not a factor for us as our Roth conversions take us over 400% FPL.

Now that I think of it, premiums in our state are not age-rated (do not vary by age, like group insurance rates) so that may be the reason why there is a big difference in our case and less of a difference in other states.

I suspect that the carriers priced the cat plans assuming insured in their 20s and may not have anticipated that very many older than 30 people would be able to buy the cat plan.

 

[easysurfer]

Yeah, they have indicated various things to me that didn't pan-out, so I'd double check that. I should have been from Missouri, the 'show me' state, hehe, because I'll believe it when I see it.

I did go my BCBS's site and check that an ACH draft got initiated and for the proper amount. So, hopefully it's smooth sailing. At least for now.

 

[explanade]

Here's a list of qualifying events that allow you to get a new policy outside of the annual open enrollment period. http://www.hr.mnscu.edu/insurance/documents/Qualifying_Life_Even.pdf

Thanks, no explicit mention of early retirement but presumably #12, COBRA qualifying event, would be applicable.

 

[RockyMtn]

For those of you that have successfully signed up have you actually used the insurance yet? If so was the process at the Doctor office, hospital, etc basically the same as in the past or is there a new "attitude" at the actual treatment site?

 

[ziggy29]

BCBSTX is all screwed up again. After I went through a lot of drama to confirm my enrollment, my first two premium payments went through like a breeze and I quickly saw them posted to my account. On February 25 I paid the March premium online through my checking account. It's still not posted. I've sent messages to them and got a call from someone there (again using social media to bypass the phone hell) ensuring me that yes, they have record of my March payment. But still with no confirmation on my statement or account records online, I don't have a very warm fuzzy.

 

[pb4uski]

For those of you that have successfully signed up have you actually used the insurance yet? If so was the process at the Doctor office, hospital, etc basically the same as in the past or is there a new "attitude" at the actual treatment site?

Why would you expect that it be any different? Its just health insurance.

 

[MRG]

For those of you that have successfully signed up have you actually used the insurance yet? If so was the process at the Doctor office, hospital, etc basically the same as in the past or is there a new "attitude" at the actual treatment site?

100% The same, they dont care. I'm very happy with my policy, my insurance is cheaper, same great level of service as Megacorp's insurance was.
MRG