Were you successful in the ACA signup

[Refresher]

Wondering how many went through the whole sign up process made a successful first payment
and received their membership card from the insurance company.
Mine was successful after a number of attempts.

 

[ls99]

It is not an issue I need to deal with, however I am interested in addition to successful signups, how many actually has a doctor willing to see them, which would be evidence of the doctor accepting the ACA health plan. After all, ACA is legit as TAX plan not as a health plan.

 

[Refresher]

It is not an issue I need to dela with, however I am interested in addition to successful signups, how many actually has a doctor willing to see them, which would be evidence of the doctor accepting the ACA health plan. After all, ACA is legit as TAX plan not as a health plan.

The insurance company provides participating doctors. How would we know at this time if a doctor on the list will not
accept ACA patients?

 

[scrabbler1]

I was able to sign up through my state's (NY) exchange back in early October. It wasn't until early December that I got calls from my new insurance company (actually the same as my existing one; I have a non-ACA-compliant policy expiring 12/31/13) telling me I was in their system and would be receiving a bill for January 2014's premium, due 1/10/14. The last of those calls came in about 2 weeks ago. I am still waiting for that bill which, once paid, will get me a Welcome Package. I am starting to get nervous as we get closer and closer to the 1/10/14 date because I will need a few days for the mailed check to arrive.

 

[ls99]

The insurance company provides participating doctors. How would we know at this time if a doctor on the list will not
accept ACA patients?

AFIK starting 1 January ACA is in effect, so in a few days we should have some preliminary info on acceptance. Those who have so far been accepted into ACA can legitimately query the insurance co, for participating doctors and then inquire from the doctors if the "back end", the payment system for the professional services rendered to patients is in place.

Old story: no tickee, no washee. If the payment system to the providing doctors is not in place or not functional, chances are most will wind up in ER waiting roms for medical services, since hospitals' ERs are obligated to treat. Though somewhere I read in the last few days that many of the top rated hospitals will not participate in ACA .

In the same way that many hospitals refuse to accept mdicaid patients. I have seen such notices at various hospitals.

My guess is many will need to bring sleeping bags to the ER waiting room. Hope I am wrong.

Edit add:
http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles...t-of-aca-website-back-end-yet-to-be-completed

A bit dated, written late November:
"However, he said that 30% to 40% of work on the "back office" IT systems for the federal marketplace has yet to be completed. Those parts of the system include accounting and payment systems such as the delivery of federal subsidies (Hattem [1], "RegWatch," The Hill, 11/19). According to Politico, many of the back-end systems Chao referenced were not scheduled to come online until December, when insurers would need to begin finalizing coverage that would start Jan. 1 (Meyers, Politico, 11/20)."

 

[MasterBlaster]

My guess is many will need to bring sleeping bags to the ER waiting room. Hope I am wrong.

Well with 30 million or so new ACA participants there are bound to be lots of bottlenecks in ERs and other places. This whole adjustment process could be quite difficult.

 

[AllDone]

We made our first payment on 12/14 and received our insurance cards yesterday, 12/26. In October our doctor's group sent out a list of ACA plans that they were accepting and we chose one of those. I have a follow up appointment with the podiatrist (getting old sucks) scheduled for Jan. 2, 2014. Our deductible is $5K higher and our premiums are $5K lower. If worse comes to worse and I need a surgery, we will break even, otherwise, we pocket the extra dough. Even without the monetary gain, I'd still be hoping that the physical therapy and exercise will continue to do the trick.

I think the first year's goal is 7M new enrollees, not 30M. We are transitioning from COBRA so we aren't really new enrollees.

 

[Sue J]

I enrolled and paid the first week in Nov. I still have not gotten ID cards or a benefit booklet yet. We will be with the same insurer, same network as our current insurer and all our providers were listed. I called today and I have the group number and our ID#, just no official cards. That is just plain stupid, but considering what others are going through, I'll just be patient.

What we did get in the mail this week is a nice big benefit booklet for the plan we are leaving on 12-31-13. Like they don't know that we switched? The pension plan updated the monthly deposit to show we will not be buying the insurance through them after 12-31-13, maybe they forgot to tell the insurance company.

Our 26 year old son enrolled mid Nov and never heard anything (and the insurer never got his application) so last week we removed his application and started over. Got through it all in one session and he enrolled in the same HDHP with HSA plan that we did. He got his bill yesterday and sent an ACH payment.

 

[jflynn4]

I enrolled on October 17th ... Billing was received in early November and immediately paid. Received insurance cards (first set) last week and then, this past Tuesday, received another identical set.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Our card was charged three times and we have insurance cards. Our premiums are over 2K a month less than 2013. Woohoo. And the premiums we do pay are a business expenses for us, plus we will have an HSA. We are looking to a much lower medical expense year for 2014, even if we hit the out of pocket max again.

 

[cantlogin]

I struggled with Healthcare.gov from October first until the beginning of December when the whole system began to work much better (for me).
I am signed up.
The insurer has acknowledged receipt of my payment.
I have an ID card for the new policy.
The list of providers is very extensive.

 

[audreyh1]

We are signed up, but we didn't go through healthcare.gov. We signed up directly with the insurance company for a new ACA plan. Premiums are paid (and insurance company shows paid through Feb 1), but we don't have cards yet.

 

[ziggy29]

Finally saw the second invoice for my corrected application last night and finally had a chance to pay it. I printed out everything to verify, now we'll see about getting the card and group details...

 

[DayDreaming]

Completed my online application 1st week of November, got my new insurance card and 1st bill a week or 2 later. I remember it was all done before Thanksgiving.

(With the subsidy, my insurance cost will be about $120 less per month than I'm paying now, with better coverage).

 

[truenorth418]

I'm not sure if I am actually signed-up or not. I think I might be. But I'm not sure.

The process has been, to say the least, ridiculous.

-Reside in New York State, which runs its own exchange
-After reading many of the horror stories here on ER.org, I decided to wait until after Thanksgiving to enroll in order for more of the bugs to be worked out
-On Dec 3, I went online to the New York exchange site and entered all my info, and at my projected 2014 MAGI, I qualified for a subsidy which I decided to apply toward a Blue Cross Blue Shield Bronze HSA plan. I felt pretty good and was left with the impression that everything had gone smoothly.
-But over a week passed and I heard nothing back from either BCBS or the New York exchange. No email, no letter, no phone call, nothing.
-Called BCBS directly, was told they had not received any enrollment info on me. Called the New York exchange, was told I was enrolled and not to worry, just wait. Waited a few days. Heard nothing back. Called BCBS again, was told again they had not received anything about me from the exchange. Called the NY exchange again, was told I had enrolled and not to worry, just wait. Average hold times about 45 minutes per call.
-On Dec 19 I got a call from a nice lady at BCBS telling me they had finally received my info from the state exchange and that my coverage would begin Jan 1 as long I paid my first monthly installment before then. She told me I would be receiving my welcome packet with all the info and payment instructions within a few days.
-By Dec 26 I still had not received anything in the mail. I called BCBS again and a nice gentleman told me not to worry, that my application had been received and accepted on Dec 11 (huh?). He directed me to their payment website where I entered the first month's payment and my credit card info. I was left with the impression that my payment was accepted and that I would covered as of Jan 1. I printed out some sort of confirmation page.
-Today is Dec 28. I just noticed there is no record of the payment to BCBS on my credit card website. Payments I make at any retail outlet or other website show up as pending almost immediately. I still have not received anything in the mail from BCBS.

So, have I been successful in the ACA sign-up? I have spent almost a month trying to enroll and I still don't know. The process has been frustrating and a big disappointment.

 

[M Paquette]

Wondering how many went through the whole sign up process made a successful first payment
and received their membership card from the insurance company.
Mine was successful after a number of attempts.

Yup. All done. Signed up via Covered California (coveredca.com) Nov 1. They sent the enrollment data to my selected HMO mid-November. I got my bill at the beginning of December, paid it, and received the HMO's ID cards yesterday, for all family members in one envelope.

Works for me...

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Yup. All done. Signed up via Covered California (coveredca.com) Nov 1. They sent the enrollment data to my selected HMO mid-November. I got my bill at the beginning of December, paid it, and received the HMO's ID cards yesterday, for all family members in one envelope.

Works for me...

Did you select Kaiser instead of Anthem?

Our timelines are similar, but I chose Anthem and sit here insurance-cardless, uncharged despite credit card payment, and un-Welcomed.

But, hey, I am repeatedly told I am enrolled and have submitted initial payment.

 

[DUFUS]

My attempt(s) via healthcare.gov from Oct-Nov were in vain. Started over in December with success. Looks like my payment was received 12/23, got my card yesterday. Going from Megacorp retiree flawless diamond HMO which would've been $560/mo in 2014 to Bronze PPO @ $106/mo (with subsidy) You get what you pay for... But I'll take the calculated risk.

"I'm an aggressive gambler, Mr. Vegas" -John Candy in Stripes.

 

[M Paquette]

Did you select Kaiser instead of Anthem?

Our timelines are similar, but I chose Anthem and sit here insurance-cardless, uncharged despite credit card payment, and un-Welcomed.

But, hey, I am repeatedly told I am enrolled and have submitted initial payment.

Yup. Kaiser-Permanente. Anthem and others 'build' an HMO out of network providers, which has some economic side effects that I find undesirable. (In-network hospital and surgeon, out-of-network lab and anesthesiologist for happy fun surprise out of pocket expenses on the birth of our second child! Care may be per-service based rather than outcome based. And so on...)

 

[FUEGO]

I gave up around October 4th and haven't tried since then (we have nearly free awesome coverage through DW's employer). I did confirm with my doctor that he'll be accepting all the major network exchange healthcare plans. This could obviously change in the future, but it's likely that we'll have our choice of doctors. But really, I'd be willing to change practices in exchange for guaranteed issue coverage.

DW had to do that a few times for OBGYN practices in the past due to her employer provided insurance coverage changing year to year. In other words, lack of access to the doctor of your choice isn't a 2014 novelty - we've been enjoying that feature of healthcare for a while. And apparently the major trauma center in town doesn't take our major insurance (Unitedhealthcare) and is out of network. Should a catastrophe happen, hopefully I can return from consciousness long enough to inform the ambulance driver which hospital is in network for my particular plan!

 

[MRG]

Enrolled, received cards, payed, signed up on insurers website. All DR' facilities in plan(from what you can tell).

Unfortunately the one generic med that was $ 10 a month will be $350 a month. If I'd stayed on COBRA plan, they announced it was dropped too.

I've already tried with the recommended substitutes. None of them work. I'll be seeing a neurologist for these migraine type headaches. If they can't help, I have no choice, but to pay for the meds I need.

This is not an ACA issue, simple cost adjustment.

MRG

 

[Texas Proud]

Not successful.... called and was told to start over.... which would mean that I do not get insurance starting Jan 1...

 

[Buck2520]

DW all signed up. Never got completed through web site but was able to get it completed after two long phone calls. Don't expect any provider issues, if the Doc takes Blue Cross then they take all Blue Cross. Saved us a bunch and made it possible for us to retire in January. It has not been easy or perfect but the old system was even worse and more expensive.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Enrolled, received cards, payed, signed up on insurers website. All DR' facilities in plan(from what you can tell).

Unfortunately the one generic med that was $ 10 a month will be $350 a month. If I'd stayed on COBRA plan, they announced it was dropped too.

I've already tried with the recommended substitutes. None of them work. I'll be seeing a neurologist for these migraine type headaches. If they can't help, I have no choice, but to pay for the meds I need.

This is not an ACA issue, simple cost adjustment.

MRG

My DH is on a few meds and has shopped prices, asking for pricing with and without insurance. He also gets discount cards or coupons online at goodrx.com.

He found a terrific pharmacist at Target who works with him and price matches.

 

[MRG]

My DH is on a few meds and has shopped prices, asking for pricing with and without insurance. He also gets discount cards or coupons online at goodrx.com.

He found a terrific pharmacist at Target who works with him and price matches.

Thank you. I've looked but no dice on the med I need. I sincerely appreciate your knowledge.
MRG