My wife is about ready to throw out the computer! Signing up to Obama care/ACA has just made

[diabeticman]

her upset and frustrated. They keep yapping at her needing to verify her identity even after giving them ALL her personal information. Her workplace is getting ride of there insurance and telling workers to sign up for Obama care.

[Junkdrawer]

1. She's not alone....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023815526

But, you see, we're all RW trolls....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3815627

[ProSense]

2. Try the

paper application. You have until December 15 to sign up.

Apply online, by mail, or in-person

You can apply for Marketplace coverage three ways: online, by mail, or in-person with the help of a Navigator or other qualified helper. Telephone help and online chat are available 24/7 to help you complete your application. Call the call center to have a copy of the paper application mailed to you..

https://www.healthcare.gov/what-is-the-health-insurance-marketplace/

[hay rick]

17. Download the forms. That part of the site works fine.

http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Forms-Reports-and-Other-Resources/Downloads/marketplace-app-short-form.pdf
Single adults- for single adults who aren’t offered health coverage from their employer and don’t have any dependents and can’t be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.

http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Forms-Reports-and-Other-Resources/Downloads/marketplace-app-short-form-instructions.pdf
Single adults- instructions.

http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Forms-Reports-and-Other-Resources/Downloads/marketplace-app-standard.pdf
Standard form- use for your family or anyone in your family.

http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Forms-Reports-and-Other-Resources/Downloads/marketplace-app-standard-instructions.pdf
Standard form- instructions.

http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Forms-Reports-and-Other-Resources/Downloads/marketplace-app-no-financial-assistance.pdf
Non-financial assistance- anyone who needs health insurance coverage can use this form.

http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Forms-Reports-and-Other-Resources/Downloads/marketplace-app-no-financial-assistance-instructions.pdf
Non-financial assistance- instructions.

[ProSense]

18. Thanks for the links. n/t

[SoCalDem]

23. Send them in using certified/registered

so later on they cannot claim they were lost or never received.. Make multiple copies before you mail them in case you have to re-submit

[theCHARLOTTEan]

19. Thanks for digging this out.

I ordered my application last friday as a backup if I didn't get thru. Wish they would have them at the Post Office or public library. I'll make copies for my friends in Tennessee. Have to deliver them in plain brown envelopes to keep our governor from sending the insurance possie after me. $1000 fine for helping folks 'round here.

[hay rick]

21. You're welcome and welcome to DU.

I feel your pain. I live in Florida where they 1) turned down $51 billion in federal money for Medicaid expansion, 2) refused to set up a state exchange, turning down the federal grant for that purpose, 3) passed a law forbidding ACA navigators from attempting to help people get insurance coverage at the state's Florida Community Health Centers, and 4) suspended the state insurance regulator's rate review on all new health insurance policies in the hope that unfettered, unregulated rate increases would be blamed on Obamacare.

[Fawke Em]

24. You can do it now without risking that fine.

A federal judge ruled the law ridiculous.

Churches, unions and social service organizations can now set up computer stations to help the uninsured sign up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act without fear of being fined by the state of Tennessee.

U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell issued a temporary restraining order today blocking Tennessee from enforcing a portion of the state’s controversial emergency rules for health law navigators. Campbell said the state rules defining a navigator contain language that is too broad.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20131007/NEWS07/310070057/Judge-grants-restraining-order-controversial-state-rules-health-law-navigators?gcheck=1

[Journeyman]

28. Thanks for the links. . .

[Fumesucker]

6. The OP has been using DU to vent about a number of serious issues they have

It's a fairly common thing to do here, I've even done it myself once or twice.

[NMDemDist2]

4. call

1-866-573-8466

[grantcart]

5. I found the "live chat" function to be more helpful than the phone

but eventually understood what was needed.

[theCHARLOTTEan]

7. Maybe this will help...

I understand your frustration, but there alternatives to the seeming insanity of the web.
Checkout this link.

http://www.valuepenguin.com/ppaca/exchanges/

Tip #1, I hope this link will help some of you. This website has the spreadsheet information for the Federal and Partnership insurance and some state exchanges. Simply click on your state and select county, family size, individual particulars, smoking Y/N, income, and type plan; click calculate. In Tennessee 90+ plans. Your results may vary. If the state plans are not shown click on the state summary tab. It has a link to the state website. No big brother looking over your shoulder just the data. Biggest weakness hear is lack of details about individual plans. Blue Cross has minimal info on most plans. So use this info to contact actual insurance company for info. In Tennessee website at BCBST near useless, unless you are already a paying policy holder. See Tip #3 if you are not a policy holder for the company you are interested in. Hope you will have better luck in other states.

ps; I have looked at some insurance company sites and they seem to have different subsidies, It appears to me they are using the 138% of poverty level for their calculations for states that did not accept the Medicaid expansion instead of 100%.

pss; Reminder poverty level for singles ~$11,450 for non-expansion states and ~$15,900 for states that accepted expansion. Do a search to determine income subsidy for your situation.

Tip #2, Create your account on the marketplace, if you can, then call 1-800-318-2596 and ask for a paper application. I know sounds hopelessly low tech. Took one call, 2-3 minutes, zero hold time at 2 pm on last Friday. Should take 5 days or so to arrive, if you can get on the website before then great, if not backup plan in place. I was told they would contact you by email upon receipt of application.

Tip #3; Forget all of the above, contact a health insurance broker or agent. The exchanges I looked at have many plans but only 3 or 4 providers. Each agent should be more than happy to help as I believe the company gets the entire years subsidy the first month of enrollment should you qualify. Okay you can use tip #1 to help here.

Question; Why are the insurance providers not advertising that they can help you decide what policy is best for you? Over the next 10 years the premiums and subsidies are in the trillions, don't you want to be the first provider for these new customers?

Long time amused and confused reader.

theCHARLOTTEan
Go TITANS

[xfundy]

14. I believe that site is a RW bullshit site, meant to misinform.

It has nothing to do with the gov't, so why should it be trusted?

Domain Name: VALUEPENGUIN.COM
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Updated Date: 2013-08-14 13:24:44
Creation Date: 2013-06-03 16:39:32
Registrar Expiration Date: 2019-06-03 16:39:32
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrant Name: Jonathan Wu
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: 25801 Pembroke Ave.
Registrant City: Great Neck
Registrant State/Province: New York
Registrant Postal Code: 11020
Registrant Country: United States
Admin Name: Jonathan Wu
Admin Organization:
Admin Street: 25801 Pembroke Ave.
Admin City: Great Neck
Admin State/Province: New York
Admin Postal Code: 11020
Admin Country: United States
Admin Phone: [phone]
Admin Fax:
Admin Email: [e-mail]
Tech Name: Jonathan Wu
Tech Organization:
Tech Street: 25801 Pembroke Ave.
Tech City: Great Neck
Tech State/Province: New York
Tech Postal Code: 11020
Tech Country: United States
Tech Phone: [phone]
Tech Fax:
Tech Email: [e-mail]
Name Server: NS71.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS72.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

[DevonRex]

20. It is. For a rough estimate of costs and subsidy amount go to kff.org

Last edited Thu Oct 10, 2013, 04:29 PM - Edit history (1)

http://kff.org/ That's kff.org for Kaiser Family Foundation. They are a fantastic source for health care information. They don't have the actual insurance companies listed BUT do have it broken down by zip code so they have all the policy information and have simply averaged them for rough estimates. But the subsidy amounts are standard according to income, household size, age and smoking status. And they broke the information down into silver and bronze and maximum out of pocket expenditure and premium.

I plugged the same information in both sites. The information in the Kaiser site was correct (I have relatives in Mississippi) and the information in the Penguin site was outrageous. Nobody in Mississippi could afford those rates.

[SoCalDem]

25. This calculator is especially easy & helpful too

It is down for updates until 8PM PST.. It is very user friendly and not slanted politically

http://calweb-proadm.berkeley.edu/index.html

[DevonRex]

27. I posted Kaiser because healthcare.gov uses it

here:

https://www.healthcare.gov/find-premium-estimates/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=planestimationtool

[4bucksagallon]

8. They're trying to fix the problems, and the website was down for the fix........

Hope it works but I don't see why people are getting frustrated about a few glitches. It would have been nice to have a good site up and running but I can see certain groups of people doing a DDoS attack on this website especially with how vested in the outcome the Republicans have become. Then they can say there we told you so.

[chillfactor]

9. and many others are stating.....

they went in and signed up with very little problems

[elleng]

10. Problems caused by sloppy offshore contractor, allegedly.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251329767

Sorry. There's time. Help her to relax about this.

[Tx4obama]

11. Has she tired the 800 number? 1-800-318-2596

http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10023764635#post2

[diabeticman]

12. Yeah and waited a half hour on hold than she had to go to work she didn't get home until

8:30 this evening. She finished the application online and it demanded hard copies of ID She gave all that info over the internet and she doesn't feel comfortable sending copies of the same info.

[xfundy]

13. Tell her to try back when the bugs have been worked out.

Geez, it's like the gold rush.She's got nearly three months to sign up if she wants to get in on the date it starts, and nearly six months till the cutoff for signup.

[Yo_Mama]

16. More like two months. December 15th is drop-dead for Jan 1st coverage.

Oct 9th to Nov 9th, Nov 9th to Dec 9th. Two months and 5 or 6 days.

People are getting worried because they're afraid they won't be able to sign up because this isn't going well. Also a lot of people want to get the numbers as soon as possible to plan, what with the holidays and regular winter costs. You have to pay the premium before you get the insurance! For people living on a tight budget it's a real concern.

[tammywammy]

15. Why not just wait a couple of weeks? n/t

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

22. Watch...

http://gawker.com/applying-for-health-insurance-before-and-after-obamaca-1442651978

[kestrel91316]

26. Have her print out the paper form and apply via snail mail. I'm probably gonna wind up doing that

unless they fix the CoveredCA site soon.