HealthCare.gov

[Blueskies123]

I am buying ACA health insurance for the first time and expect to get subsidies. Every time I try to log on to HealthCare.gov I can only enter a bit of information and then I cannot go any further. I am in Florida.

I noticed EHealth seems to let me finish an application. If I buy ACA health insurance somewhere other than an exchange will I still get all the subsidies?

If I cannot get thru on the HealthCare.gov can I use another web site?
If you did not use HealthCare.gov what web site did you use?

 

[Silver]

I am also in Florida and was able to easily use the Healthcare.gov site on 11-1-15 to obtain insurance coverage with a subsidy. I have already paid the first month's coverage and received my new insurance cards. Perhaps the site has developed problems since then.

It might be helpful to more fully describe what you mean by "enter a bit of info and cannot go further." At what point exactly does the process seem to stall? And what does that 'stall" look like? Were you able to establish an account? Did you start an application for insurance? Are you sure you didn't miss a "next" or "continue" button at the bottom of a page? Sometimes you do need to scroll all the way down to see them.

I am not aware of any other website that can be used in order to apply for subsidized health care insurance.

 

[easysurfer]

I am also in Florida and was able to easily use the Healthcare.gov site on 11-1-15 to obtain insurance coverage with a subsidy. I have already paid the first month's coverage and received my new insurance cards. Perhaps the site has developed problems since then.

It might be helpful to more fully describe what you mean by "enter a bit of info and cannot go further." At what point exactly does the process seem to stall? And what does that 'stall" look like? Were you able to establish an account? Did you start an application for insurance? Are you sure you didn't miss a "next" or "continue" button at the bottom of a page? Sometimes you do need to scroll all the way down to see them.

I am not aware of any other website that can be used in order to apply for subsidized health care insurance.

Tax question. Since you already paid for your first month's coverage (in 2015), come tax time, do you report the insurance premium for tax year 2015 or wait until 2016 taxes since this is for 2016 coverage. In otherwords, record according to when you paid or the time of insurance coverage?

 

[Blueskies123]

Applying for ACA on HIM.gov

To answer your questions I was able to create an account, select my state, indicate I was married with no other dependents and enter my income. At the bottom of the "apply screen" there is a big "continue" button but it is a very dim shade of green and when I click on it nothing happens. I have tried other browsers and clicked continue multiple times and nothing happens.

 

[Blueskies123]

I was applying on Healthcare.gov not Him.gov

 

[Blueskies123]

It sounds like you signed up as of Dec 1st 2015 and maybe bypassed the 2016 new applications. You said you already paid, was it for Jan 2016?

 

[MooreBonds]

To answer your questions I was able to create an account, select my state, indicate I was married with no other dependents and enter my income. At the bottom of the "apply screen" there is a big "continue" button but it is a very dim shade of green and when I click on it nothing happens. I have tried other browsers and clicked continue multiple times and nothing happens.

I haven't used healthcare.gov, but are you entering extra characters when entering your income, like a comma or dollar sign, which the system can't process and let you advance?

Or are there additional fields to the side of this that are offscreen?

 

[Silver]

Tax question. Since you already paid for your first month's coverage (in 2015), come tax time, do you report the insurance premium for tax year 2015 or wait until 2016 taxes since this is for 2016 coverage. In otherwords, record according to when you paid or the time of insurance coverage?

We will report the first month's payment for 2016 health insurance in our 2016 tax return.

 

[Silver]

It sounds like you signed up as of Dec 1st 2015 and maybe bypassed the 2016 new applications. You said you already paid, was it for Jan 2016?

Since we have coverage through the ACA website for 2015, I just needed to update our application, select a new plan (our 2015 plan was discontinued), and submit. That same day I received an e-mail from Blue Cross with instructions on how to pay the first month, which I followed. I received our new insurance cards the following week.

I clearly recall exactly what you are describing, but I'm not sure why it won't allow you to continue. You enter your AGI as your income in that space, and it should proceed to a screen that tells you the subsidy that would apply.

If the problem continues I would call the help number and speak with someone.

 

[easysurfer]

We will report the first month's payment for 2016 health insurance in our 2016 tax return.

Thanks. I was under the impression that you had to record as under when you paid the premium as was thinking of holding off any payments until 2016.

 

[John Galt III]

Not to hijack the thread, but has anyone discovered any kinks in HC.gov this year? I remember last year there were some ambiguities one had to guess correctly about in order to not get trapped in some nightmare. Do you have to go through identity verification all over again? Have they changed the format of the questions? etc.

I have picked out a plan for 2016 but I haven't tried to enroll in it yet.

Thanks

 

[marko]

To answer your questions I was able to create an account, select my state, indicate I was married with no other dependents and enter my income. At the bottom of the "apply screen" there is a big "continue" button but it is a very dim shade of green and when I click on it nothing happens. I have tried other browsers and clicked continue multiple times and nothing happens.

Just guessing:
Could be the "Continue" button isn't active because there's some missing information above.

 

[karen1972]

One other thing I got hung up on.. didn't notice I had to click "see your eligibility" and actually VIEW the sheet to proceed... so you may want to double check there isn't some button or link you are missing that isn't very obvious.

 

[MRG]

Not to hijack the thread, but has anyone discovered any kinks in HC.gov this year? I remember last year there were some ambiguities one had to guess correctly about in order to not get trapped in some nightmare. Do you have to go through identity verification all over again? Have they changed the format of the questions? etc.

I have picked out a plan for 2016 but I haven't tried to enroll in it yet.

Thanks

I haven't has any issues. Haven't done enroll yet. Only comment is I wish they would stop the robot calls and emails reminding me!

 

[bingybear]

It sounds like you signed up as of Dec 1st 2015 and maybe bypassed the 2016 new applications. You said you already paid, was it for Jan 2016?

From what I recall for the ACA, you need to pay your first month's payment before that month starts. So you have to pay it in 2015 to start on 1/1/16

 

[Blueskies123]

I finally figured it out, even though the onscreen application showed that my wife and I were applying for insurance I had to actually click on my name and my wife's name to validate that those names are correct. Once I did that step the continue button light up. I got to think thousands of people missed the same step.

 

[karen1972]

I finally figured it out, even though the onscreen application showed that my wife and I were applying for insurance I had to actually click on my name and my wife's name to validate that those names are correct. Once I did that step the continue button light up. I got to think thousands of people missed the same step.

Figured.. as I said I missed that other not so obvious step.. I just think its one of those.. if it doesn't light up continue.. keep clicking on page till something pops up