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[Buckeye]

Aetna has always charged our CCs monthly. I am hoping Anthem will permit the same.

My Humana policy in Florida (Tampa Bay area) has always drawn from my checking account. Can't remember if that was the only option or if CC would incur an additional charge so I did withdrawal from checking account.

 

[audreyh1]

BCBSTX credit card payment on-line had an added fee.

 

[clifp]

I bailed on signing up for ACA. In the whole state of Hawaii only 574 had signed up by 15 Nov. My verification process was still showing 2/01/2014 before citizenship, SSN status were to be completed. I was unable to upload a scan of my passport.

A call to the helpline last week, showed that they are now willing to accept email scan (previously only faxes.) However, my ancient social security card dissolved a few years ago and hasn't be replaced. I can't expatiate the verification process without it.

Fortunately, I got final confirmation recently that my existing Kaiser plan is grandfathered in so I'll pay the 10% higher premium and be glad of it. Lots of people are going to be scrambling this holiday season for health insurance.

 

[MRG]

I couldn't complete creating an account on the BCBSKC website without information I could ony get after I'd paid. Called the I want to pay number. Hold time was 40 minutes. She validated my cost sharing was there, invoice did have tax credit. Gave her cc info for first payment. She validated the amount. They don't appear to have a fee for cc usage here.
She ran charge all went through, gave me the cc transaction id.
Think I'm really done, till I try to use the insurance next year.
MRG

 

[reubenray]

I got my confirmation letter from BCBSLA, so I am good to go.

 

[cantlogin]

Earlier, I mentioned that I have successfully enrolled for insurance through the federal website and paid the first month's premium directly to BCBS.
That remains true and I'm not concerned about losing that hard won territory but there is a new befuddlement for me.

Today I received a letter from Healthcare.Gov advising me that if I fail to provide proof of income for 2014 by March1, 2014 my eligibility for healthcare might end.

There is a list of 11 documents that I can send but the only two that 2 that I will be able to produce (a copy of a check paid to me or a bank statement) don't seem to me to provide proof of income for next year. In fact, I can think of no way to provide proof of something that hasn't happened yet.

Does anyone reading this have an explanation of this circumstance that might make sense to me?

Of course, I'll attempt to communicate directly with the originator of this document in London, but I'm not optimistic about that being a smooth experience.

Thanks

EDIT:

Wait a minute...
How can anyone provide a copy of a check that's been paid to them?
When I get a check, I give it to the bank and they give me money. Maybe they're supposed to give the check back to me in case I need to use it again? This really is like a book or a movie about the absurd.

I'm really not worried or upset about this. I was amazed how easy it was for me to speak with Addison James at the Health Insurance Marketplace a few minutes ago. He assured me that the two documents I mentioned would satisfy the requirement and acknowledged that I wasn't the first one to point out their dubious value as proof of future annual income. I didn't think quickly enough to present him with the problem of getting my hands on a check that's already been cashed.

 

[aja8888]

Daughter got her premium bill today for the lowest Bronze plan with BCBS....$70.00.

Looks like its all good. (but what a ride)!

 

[walkinwood]

I just got the invoice for the first payment from my insurance company.

The enrollment on the Colorado exchange was relatively easy, but the lack of good status information led to a lot of frustration & wasted time as I waited in line (online & on the phone) with the exchange & provider to get status updates.

The process of enrollment was a little convoluted since I first had to apply for, and be rejected by, Medicare before applying for a subsidy. The online SS verification did not work, so I had to upload supporting documents to their site.

I completed my enrollment on 11/15 and received the invoice yesterday 12/17. Big relief!

 

[Htown Harry]

There appears to be good news for those sweating out end of the year payment deadlines. You should now have 10 days extra to complete the payment. Note the December 23 sign-up deadline for coverage beginning on January 1st remains, however. This is just a bit of slack for processing the payment after enrollment.

America's Health Insurance Plans - Health Insurers Voluntarily Extend Deadline for Premium Payment

Health plans across the country are voluntarily giving individual market enrollees who select a plan by December 23 more time to pay their first month’s premium. Consumers must still pay their first month’s premium before coverage takes effect, but those who pay their premium by January 10 will now be able to have coverage retroactive to January 1.

Nice chart, too:

 

[scrabbler1]

I was told by my new insurer that I can pay the Jan premium by January 10th. I already received 2 phone calls from them confirming my enrollment but have not received the new bill. I was able to follow up with the letter from the NY Health exchange about eligibility for the federal subsidy and I took care of it after a lengthy online chat with a rep.

One small benefit about the Jan 10 date is that I can use it to "bunch" my HI expenses in 2014 to take a larger itemized deduction. (I will be taking the Standard Deduction for 2013 no matter what). I'll be busy writing several checks on Jan 1 to bunch my deductions - 4th quarter 2013 state estimated income taxes, this HI payment, and a charitable deduction. Here's to "bunching!"

 

[Sue J]

3 or 4 weeks ago my 26 year old son (remember, his demographic is the key to making this whole thing work) finally got an application to go through, saw his plan choices and his subsidy eligibility and ENROLLED in a plan. His application still says "Submitted" with an application# but it never progressed to "completed" or "enrolled" like mine did.

He called the insurer to see if they got the info since he hasn't gotten any correspondence from them or a bill. Nope, they haven't gotten anything and told him to call HealthCare.gov. and have it resubmitted. So he called them and they don't show him in the system. But he has an ID#! Nope, he needs to delete the application and start over.

Of course, THE SYSTEM IS DOWN AT THE MOMENT.

This is how you alienate your customers. This is a generation who is used to doing everything online. Calling an 800 number, waiting on hold and then being told, "Sorry, we have no record of you," is not what is going to get people to comply will the new rules.

Just plain shameful. He has been without insurance all of 2013 and wants to be insured and WANTS TO PAY FOR IT BY DEC 23rd.

 

[samclem]

New individual mandate waiver for cancellees who can't get affordable coverage

The latest twist: The administration has announced that people with individual policies who have received cancellation notices AND who self-certify that they can't find affordable coverage on the exchanges, will not face a penalty if they don't buy insurance.

Link to article in the CS Monitor on this issue.

From the article:

But that raises a difficult question, the law’s critics note. If people who had insurance, but lost it, are now exempt from Obamacare due to hardship, what about people who didn’t have insurance in the first place? Isn’t their situation just as difficult?

Plus, what if you lost your insurance, but have managed to make it through the hoops of HealthCare.gov and purchase a new policy? Can you ditch that and buy a cheaper catastrophic plan?

There are 11 days left in the year, this might be the last change.

 

[gardenfun]

Had enrolled in Blue Shield of CA two weeks ago on CoveredCA, but hadn't received anything from them.
Called BSCA this morning, was only on hold for 30 minutes! The young lady found me in the system via my SSN and asked if I wanted to pay my first premium (at the subsidized amount--yay). I gave her my CC info, and then she said they would send the welcome packet in 7 - 10 business days. So I'm wondering how you would know what and how to make a payment if the insurance company hasn't sent you anything? That's why I called, obviously, but it seems like they should send a provisional welcome package first.

Then she said I would need to "register" online by January 1. But I can't register without an ID number which I won't have until I get the welcome package which probably won't arrive by Jan. 1. Oh well, I consider myself very lucky to have made it this far.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Our credit card was charged three times for the same amount for the January premium.

Weird letters are arriving through the mail from Blue Shield and Covered CA. One was a reminder to finish our application, dated after we had already completed it. We had at least one computer generated letter with the key words left out where there obviously should have been variable data filled in from a database. It is the kind of stuff I would have given a first year CS student an F on when I used to grade programming homework as a teaching assistant in college. Yet these letters are being sent out to the public for a real world application over as serious and important a matter as health insurance. It boggles the mind.

But, hey, we have our application verification saved and printed off, Blue Shield accepted our payment not once but three times, and the guy on the phone at Blue Shield says we are all set and should get our cards next week. Our old policy was cancelled so there isn't much else we can do at this point except hope he is right.

 

[MRG]

I received three eligibility notices today, via snail mail for one ot the many applications I started, on the federal exchange. I'd understand one, if it was the one I enrolled with. I'm guessing I'll get twenty more.
MRG

 

[M Paquette]

Weird letters are arriving through the mail from Blue Shield and Covered CA. One was a reminder to finish our application, dated after we had already completed it. We had at least one computer generated letter with the key words left out where there obviously should have been variable data filled in from a database.

I got the same letters. Just out of pure cantankerosity, I put together a 'dispute' letter. Hey, the bottom of the reminder notice says "If you disagree with our decision...". I fired off the letter along with proof of enrollment that showed our total premium, subsidy, and net, and proof of payment. I figure that since the exchange is the arbiter of whether or not we are enrolled through them for purposes of my 2014 Federal tax retirn, I should maybe noodge them early and often.

Meanwhile, back at our insurance provider, I got bills for myself, DW, and DD for our January premiums. DW and I owe $0.00. DD owes the full rate for her coverage. Yes, I enrolled all three of us as a family. A phone call confirmed that we were all enrolled as a family, and that they had the first premium paid. The call center person said that they were in the process of updating all the records, and that I could ignore that bill. I'm on autopay, so we'll see what happens next...

 

[ziggy29]

The saga continues.

Just got a call back from my contact at BCBSTX. She says they have backed out the first application with my incorrect information and confirmed that the second application and enrollment (completed 12/5) correctly lists my AI/AN status. In the next few days it should all be linked and I should see the ability to pay restored in the next few days -- and a card mailed out when they work out the kinks. But she assured me that yes, I am fully enrolled by December 23 per the requirements and will be covered on January 1 even if not invoiced or paid by then.

Also, because of all the back end problems she said BCBSTX was extending its deadline to pay the first month's premium until January 31. So even if it's not cleared up by January 1 she assured me I will be covered on that day as long as the first payment is received by January 31.

 

[Sue J]

After the site was down for a few hours I was able to log in and remove my son's application that was lost in the ether and submit all his info again. This is all with his permission. He's a Mac/Apple user only and he could never get anything at HealthCare.gov to work with his browsers. He had come home to use my computer with Internet Explorer to do his application a few weeks ago.

I sent him screen caps of all the confirmation pages and his new ID# and where it shows that his application is completed. There was a link to PAY FOR HEALTH PLAN but that didn't work, no surprise there.

In redoing his application I noticed that things on the site worked much better than before. Pages loaded quickly and I went through the whole thing very easily. It even retained most of his info from the initial enrollment. I was curious if the site now worked with Firefox and yes, it did. When I was first enrolling DH and I in October I only got blank pages with Firefox.

 

[MichaelB]

After the site was down for a few hours I was able to log in and remove my son's application that was lost in the ether and submit all his info again. This is all with his permission. He's a Mac/Apple user only and he could never get anything at HealthCare.gov to work with his browsers. He had come home to use my computer with Internet Explorer to do his application a few weeks ago.

I sent him screen caps of all the confirmation pages and his new ID# and where it shows that his application is completed. There was a link to PAY FOR HEALTH PLAN but that didn't work, no surprise there.

In redoing his application I noticed that things on the site worked much better than before. Pages loaded quickly and I went through the whole thing very easily. It even retained most of his info from the initial enrollment. I was curious if the site now worked with Firefox and yes, it did. When I was first enrolling DH and I in October I only got blank pages with Firefox.

Hope this time it ends successfully. I had the same issue with my iPad, only the windows based desktop was able to navigate the healthcare system. I thought this was most ironic, given the focus on enrolling the young.

 

[skyline]

Hopefully a final update from me for those of you in CA using Anthem. I applied early Nov, was finally able to confirm receipt of my application about 10 days ago at Anthem. I called today and spoke with a rep (after being on hold for about 30mins), and she emailed me a payment link while I was on the phone. She also told me that they just started sending out letters for the first month's payment late last week (but I hadn't received mine yet), and that I wouldn't receive the welcome letter / ID cards until my first month's payment is processed.

Assuming they are processing things in FIFO order, those of you who applied more recently may be behind this schedule a bit, but hopefully they're getting everything sorted out now. Good luck.

 

[audreyh1]

The saga continues.

Just got a call back from my contact at BCBSTX. She says they have backed out the first application with my incorrect information and confirmed that the second application and enrollment (completed 12/5) correctly lists my AI/AN status. In the next few days it should all be linked and I should see the ability to pay restored in the next few days -- and a card mailed out when they work out the kinks. But she assured me that yes, I am fully enrolled by December 23 per the requirements and will be covered on January 1 even if not invoiced or paid by then.

Also, because of all the back end problems she said BCBSTX was extending its deadline to pay the first month's premium until January 31. So even if it's not cleared up by January 1 she assured me I will be covered on that day as long as the first payment is received by January 31.

I just found this too as we have questions about the payment for DH. Since we weren't able to reach anybody this week due to super long phone call wait times, we went ahead and mailed the check with the invoice after it wouldn't let us submit the payment online. All we really needed was for someone to tell us why it wouldn't accept the payment on-line - was it because drafting was set up?

AND two bills are being shown as due on line on Jan 1 for DH. One for the old policy. One for the new. They should not show the old policy bill due on Jan 1 since he clearly has enrolled in a new policy.

We're worried that both policies will be drafted on Jan 1. Not a real problem long term as I'm sure they can apply the credit agains future bills - just annoying. And we also sent a check in for the new policy invoice because we just had no other recourse since we couldn't reach anybody by phone.

Anyways - here is a BCBSTX press release from Dec 12 that includes a "new Bill Pay Triage Unit" phone number for payment specific questions. We'll call that next week to try to get his situation clarified. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas - Call Center Seeing High Call Volume Get Help with Common Questions

One thing on that page, they say:

If you set up your premium payments through automatic bank draft, you will not receive a paper bill. Your account will be drafted on the date you chose when you set it up.

Not true. I received a paper invoice, even though they had already drafted my first premium. My husband is set up for automatic draft, but he also received a paper invoice. At least my online account shows I'm paid through 2/1/2014 on my new policy.

It's not just healthcare.gov having system problems. It's not just the state exchanges either. It's the private insurers too. This is just a huge, huge, huge event taking place in a relatively short time period.

 

[grasshopper]

Last week the Grasshopper family had elgiblity credit letters and a chance to enroll. Today we went through all the possible scenarios, and decided for $100 a month we will stay with our grandfathered plan. It has a lower deductible and some other benefits we like. One thing that helped was at $60500 stated income and 6 figure LTCG's on the books, if I wanted to exit the market and take some gains, I would have to pay back 5K in credits. I think that in the 2 years it will take to sort things out by than I will be on Medicare.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[NW-Bound]

I bailed on signing up for ACA. In the whole state of Hawaii only 574 had signed up by 15 Nov. My verification process was still showing 2/01/2014 before citizenship, SSN status were to be completed. I was unable to upload a scan of my passport.

A call to the helpline last week, showed that they are now willing to accept email scan (previously only faxes.) However, my ancient social security card dissolved a few years ago and hasn't be replaced. I can't expatiate the verification process without it.

Fortunately, I got final confirmation recently that my existing Kaiser plan is grandfathered in so I'll pay the 10% higher premium and be glad of it. Lots of people are going to be scrambling this holiday season for health insurance.

Just from reading about people's frustration with ACA on this forum, I decided to stay with my pre-ACA plan for one more year to avoid high blood pressure. Even if I might have saved a few thousands, it is certainly not worth it. And there's no guarantee I would get insured even if I tried.

So, to this date I have not even tried to create an account on the gummint's Web site. Yet, I saw a while back that Boehner was able to get enrolled in his first try, and it only took him 1 hour, and there was something about someone called him on the phone right away when he got some kind of hiccups.

Hmm... Quite a different experience than what our members here have had. It should be noted however that Boehner signed up with the "DC exchange" which may not be the same Fed exchange that most people here went to. Anyway, when Boehner complained about the unfriendliness of the Web site he used, many pundits went public and said he "sabotaged" his own application to make a point, and that he made a big mountain out of mole hills. So, who do I believe?

 

[audreyh1]

Just from reading about people's frustration with ACA on this forum, I decided to stay with my pre-ACA plan for one more year to avoid high blood pressure. Even if I might have saved a few thousands, it is certainly not worth it. And there's no guarantee I would get insured even if I tried.

So, to this date I have not even tried to create an account on the gummint's Web site. Yet, I saw a while back that Boehner was able to get enrolled in his first try, and it only took him 1 hour, and there was something about someone called him on the phone right away when he got some kind of hiccups.

Hmm... Quite a different experience than what our members here have had. It should be noted however that Boehner signed up with the "DC exchange" which may not be the same Fed exchange that most people here went to. Anyway, when Boehner complained about the unfriendliness of the Web site he used, many pundits went public and said he "sabotaged" his own application to make a point, and that he made a big mountain out of mole hills. So, who do I believe?

There are quite a few state exchanges that have had technical difficulties. Not just healthcare.gov. And private insurers have had numerous technical difficulties too. It's just a huge start-up thing to wade through in a relatively short period of time.

I can understand you waiting it out if you are comfortable with your current coverage. DH and I were happy to be able to go directly to our insurer of choice and not be dependent on healthcare.gov (and that's because we aren't eligible for any subsidies). There have still been a few hiccups even with our direct path. The volume is huge. But we are savings thousands even without a subsidy.

 

[NW-Bound]

...But we are savings thousands even without a subsidy.

I did look at another Web site that had supposedly a more accurate price quote than the Fed ACA site. I did not do a detailed comparison, but the premium was 2x what I am paying, in exchange for a bit lower deductible. No deal!

I might be able to get some subsidy as I can live off after-tax savings and have low "official" income, and that might change the balance. But it was definitely not worth the aggravation to even try to find out.