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( I think ) I bought Obamacare

( I think ) I bought Obamacare

Old Jan 24th 2015, 10:41 pm
  #106  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

Originally Posted by OnwardandUpward
No it's not changed for the better@Boiler- I've lived here since 2001 and we had great coverage at first, in fact you could afford to self pay and opt out of the insurance game if you were lucky and didn't have an accident/emergency etc.
And if you did have an accident/emergency you were potentially bankrupt and/or ended up with a pre-existing condition that would be uninsurable moving forward. And of course that "great coverage" might be cancelled by your insurer if you had the audacity to have a serious illness..

Originally Posted by OnwardandUpward
Year on year things have got worse. Coverage across the board is worse. That's what most people I know are saying.
Costs have certainly risen every year over the period your are talking about, but health care inflation has actually slowed down significantly since the passage of the ACA. Some argue that this is coincidental, some don't.

Originally Posted by OnwardandUpward
But I live in the general community- most people I know now aren't expats. And the expats I do know tend to have great insurance- so I think some people here just don't know what I'm talking about. And I know it's hard to get your head 'round! The law should be the law
I think you are forgetting that many who came here other than for a specific job have exactly the same issues. Or, like me, have adult children in the same boat.

Originally Posted by OnwardandUpward
I know I'm probably being too political for this forum- but that's what ACA was supposed to do. We were all going to have access to a website one stop shop and be able to buy health insurance. Compare policies. Consumer experience like we get if we want car insurance.

But people will complain if they're sold something commercially which isn't fit for purpose, I think that's my big issue with our president- he doesn't acknowledge that the government is selling something that's messed up- for whatever reasons. Or excuses. They're a business when they start selling a product. Especially when people are going to be fined/taxed for not buying it!
You live in a state that has actively tried to undermine the ACA so it doesn't surprise me that you have had difficulties. But I agree that the ACA needs improvements. Unfortunately we have one party that would rather vote 50+ times for its repeal than work constructively on improving it.
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Old Jan 25th 2015, 1:35 am
  #107  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

Originally Posted by Michael
... From my understanding, anyone can go though a private insurance company during open enrolment if a subsidy is not going to be provided since all plans are ACA compliant.
My Cobra coverage is running out at the end of Feb 2015, so I need to start looking for new insurance. I have no expectation of subsidy. Would you advise me to bypass the 'Covered CA' site and approach individual insurers? Are there still 'brokers' who will 'help' me? My plan was to simply start with the Covered CA site and pick a silver or gold plan. Based on some stories here, sounds like I should start early ...

Regarding the discussion on the general state of healthcare, my current PCP has a 5 month waiting list for annual physicals, and hasn't been accepting new patients for ages ... so it's not like ACA suddenly caused doctors to drop patients, or increase delays - this has been an ongoing situation for years.

When I needed immediate attention in Scottsdale in 2012, I tried to locate a PCP through the insurance company website (I had the best possible plan money could buy, provided by my employer). I simply gave up trying to find a doctor willing to see me; they either weren't taking patients, or, had month-long delays for first appointments. I ended up going to the ER, which was ridiculous given the nature of the problem.

Also, my Cobra coverage simply 'dropped' several months ago; I noticed it only because I tried to log into the web portal and my account was gone. Turns out a data load from one entity to another was missing my name for some reason and thus I got dropped. It was cleaned up fairly quickly, but it's not just the Govt. that has crappy / faulty IT systems in place. I'm sure if I'd had an 'incident' during that time, I would have had a fun situation to deal with at the ER.

Also, my Cobra coverage ended prematurely again Dec 31 2014; It turns out the previous private company - Discovery Benefits - somehow decided to rebrand itself as 'Mercer Marketplace', and a whole pile of new paperwork was sent out - which I missed since I was traveling - and my failure to 'resubmit' (even though I was already enrolled) caused them to drop me. It was only after making several 'begging' calls that they allowed me to re-enroll after the deadline. The mailing address for new paperwork was the same as the old address - just a different company name. So stupid bureaucracy in the healthcare field has been with us for some time ...

Originally Posted by OnwardandUpward
...

Why send out an email saying 'log in to the message center to read your message'- makes more sense to simply send the info in the email if the website is already having trouble handling volume.

...
I'm an IT person working in healthcare and can give you the answer to this minor issue ... email is inherently insecure (in its basic form) during transmission and thus, you cannot (by law) and should not (by convention) email anything involving accounts, SSNs, health status, etc. But I CAN (legally) email you a 'link' that says 'click here to view message', and that link will take you to a secured website (https://....) where you can securely view the data over an encrypted connection. Pain in the arse but required by law.
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Old Jan 25th 2015, 1:52 am
  #108  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

'You live in a state that has actively tried to undermine the ACA so it doesn't surprise me that you have had difficulties. But I agree that the ACA needs improvements. Unfortunately we have one party that would rather vote 50+ times for its repeal than work constructively on improving it.' @Giantaxe.

Have you ever read Texas Republican Party Platform @giantaxe- I don't think a lot of people even realise what they are voting for.

Was stunned to receive in the mail today a letter from HHServices requesting proof of my 2015 income- which I sent in detail in December. If I don't reply to the letter may lose coverage. No wonder doctors are worried they'll lose income.

But I've got to stop obsessing about it- it's taking over my life. I'll submit all the documents yet again, the website seems to be working anyway or it was earlier. Major attitude reset today- it is what it is.

I'm not doing myself any favours getting so worked up!

@Steerpike, thanks, that's also what my son said about the email. Good luck with your search.
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Old Feb 18th 2015, 5:45 am
  #109  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

Ok, fast-forward to Feb 18 2015- on the one hand I seem to have bought the government healthcare. On another- I am still getting requests for documentation. I call every few days and have submitted all documentation as requested...

All documentation sent via healthcare.gov needs to be in pdf format.
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Old Feb 18th 2015, 4:33 pm
  #110  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

Originally Posted by OnwardandUpward
Ok, fast-forward to Feb 18 2015- on the one hand I seem to have bought the government healthcare. On another- I am still getting requests for documentation. I call every few days and have submitted all documentation as requested...

All documentation sent via healthcare.gov needs to be in pdf format.
HC.gov wants documentation from me too; Dealing with them is ‘difficult’ IMO. Recently I sent a copy of my HC correspondence to my local senator who hopefully will put pressure in the right departments and maybe I will receive a reply this time.
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Old Feb 18th 2015, 7:52 pm
  #111  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

@ audio I've mailed the info/docs twice and emailed them to the website, even confirmed they have all they need- yet every few days a request comes to send them again. PBS did a report saying the dept of Health and human services had lost thousands of people's supplemental documents, well technically they didn't- they had us all send them to an address which doesn't exist in their department, they went to the right building. I wrote and pointed out the mistake, and called, and frankly no one was interested. "Not my problem". So how anything will get fixed I don't know.

I can't imagine going through all this every single December/January/February. Plus the IRS is now short-staffed too so self-employed people will have to work through their 2015 tax return to reconcile their proposed income with their actual income in order to get the healthcare subsidy.

In TX I don't know if John Cornyn or Ted Cruz could even understand all this, let alone help. They just want to undo the healthcare law reforms from what I read in their media.
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Old Feb 18th 2015, 8:13 pm
  #112  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

Originally Posted by OnwardandUpward
@ audio I've mailed the info/docs twice and emailed them to the website, even confirmed they have all they need- yet every few days a request comes to send them again.
You are lucky that you are only getting one request at a time -- when my OH signed up a year ago, he was getting three or four every few days, each with a different reference number on the letter. Each time he would call up --and the folks on the phone would confirm that he had already submitted the paperwork they were looking for, but they were still unable to stop the avalanche of paper. This year, it took him three months to sort out a double-dip on the automatic payment he had set up. They were also fixated on the fact that, unlike him, I was not born in the US, despite the fact that I was not applying for insurance. But he stuck with it, and has saved a lot of money while getting excellent coverage.
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Old Feb 18th 2015, 10:06 pm
  #113  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

At the moment, the whole program is a complete nightmare in my experience.
I'm sure in time it will work but as for trying to save paper, the mind boggles.
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Old Feb 18th 2015, 10:42 pm
  #114  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

Originally Posted by Nutmegger
But he stuck with it, and has saved a lot of money while getting excellent coverage.
Sorry to bear about that, hopefully nothing too major.
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Old Feb 19th 2015, 12:43 am
  #115  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

I also received the duplicate letters telling me that my application was incomplete. A nice person on my state's ACA Helpline told me last month that my documents were received (I faxed them) & are taking a long time to process. He said to ignore those letters, so I am...

Have you been able to see a doctor, OnwardandUpward?
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Old Feb 19th 2015, 1:24 am
  #116  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

@ WEBlue, yes. The 6th PCP dr was taking patients, by which time I had bronchitis/ pneumonia, the last few weeks have been a bit of a disaster! I was also diagnosed with stomach ulcer and diabetes. So on medication and going back in a few weeks to see if that's corrected. The PCP dr I finally got is someone I have used before and really like, so that worked out well in the end.
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Old Feb 19th 2015, 2:23 am
  #117  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

Originally Posted by OnwardandUpward
@ WEBlue, yes. The 6th PCP dr was taking patients, by which time I had bronchitis/ pneumonia, the last few weeks have been a bit of a disaster! I was also diagnosed with stomach ulcer and diabetes. So on medication and going back in a few weeks to see if that's corrected. The PCP dr I finally got is someone I have used before and really like, so that worked out well in the end.
Wow, that sounds serious...

I'm glad you finally found a PCP who would take Obamacare, and who's a good doctor too. Hope your health improves under his/her care as time goes on.
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Old Feb 19th 2015, 2:28 am
  #118  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

Originally Posted by OnwardandUpward
@ WEBlue, yes. The 6th PCP dr was taking patients, by which time I had bronchitis/ pneumonia, the last few weeks have been a bit of a disaster! I was also diagnosed with stomach ulcer and diabetes. So on medication and going back in a few weeks to see if that's corrected. The PCP dr I finally got is someone I have used before and really like, so that worked out well in the end.
I wish you a speedy recovery
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Old Feb 19th 2015, 3:04 am
  #119  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

That really made my day thank you both. Wow, people being kind for no reason!

My PCP dr is a Chinese immigrant and she's here on her own so she understands what it's like.
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Old Feb 19th 2015, 3:15 pm
  #120  
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Default Re: ( I think ) I bought Obamacare

Originally Posted by OnwardandUpward
That really made my day thank you both. Wow, people being kind for no reason!
No reason?

I've been worried about you ever since you first posted several ACA/Obamacare threads ago.... You said you were ill (perhaps needing surgery?) and were struggling to find a TX PCP who would accept ACA.

I thought my difficulty getting signed on to the ACA was a nightmare, but it didn't sound nearly as bad as your experience b/c my own health is not a huge immediate worry to me (just normal age-related discomforts) and my state is on board with the ACA...

I have a friend who lives locally, another expat (from Asia though), who had extremey bad health and who was so frustrated by the state's ACA website that he nearly gave up. His worried wife persuaded him to keep trying.

Finally he "thought" he had possibly succeeded in acquiring 'provisional' ACA coverage, but wasn't totally certain.... Just days later he had a heart attack. His poor wife called the paramedics and grabbed all their ACA paperwork to show at the hospital. He was covered!

Is it only in America among the so-called 'civilized' nations that such a dramatic story as this could happen??

Last edited by WEBlue; Feb 19th 2015 at 3:18 pm.
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