Friday, December 13, 2013

Obamacare For Fred Update

Just got a letter from Covered California. That's the state run Obamacare web site. They say they don't show me enrolled in a plan yet. The letter is dated December 8. Checking my earlier blog post I supposedly enrolled in a plan on December 4. I believe the web site says I'm enrolled. Hmmm???

Funny. I got the same sick feeling in my stomach when I saw the return address on the letter as I used to get when I'd get stuff from MediCal/CMSP. I guess that's one thing that won't change.

13 Comments:

At 8:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You may have "applied," but at the same time may not be "enrolled" yet. Did you, for example, complete the process by providing proof of residency and income? If not, perhaps you're not yet "enrolled" because your application is not yet complete.

Otherwise, it may just be that your application has not yet been reviewed, or hadn't been as of when they sent you the letter. Anyway, you should be able to get an answer by calling the toll-free number on the website.

 
At 8:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Most people in this situation would just call the toll-free number and try to find out where they stand, rather than writing a blog post about how they don't know where they stand. Just sayin.

 
At 6:54 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Went to the web site again yesterday and it says I'm "Enrolled". It even says for what plan and to await contact from Anthem Blue Cross to figure out payment options.

Comment #1 is correct, though, in that I haven't uploaded proof of income yet. I'd already uploaded my ID. I tried to upload my tax stuff a few days ago but the link doesn't work. I tried it twice. You'd think someone would send notice of what I hadn't completed if that was what was holding things up.

I called Anthem Blue Cross yesterday afternoon if only to find out if they have any record of me. I couldn't get through. All operators were busy.

Guess I'll try again today or even call the Covered CA number.

 
At 7:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post Fred, the anonymous commentor is obviously missing the point that you have a well recognized blog of which you commonly use to discuss recent events. With all the health issues people face, posting your experience can be helpfull to those in need. A normal person would realize this on their own before opening the comment box for knee jerk insults.

 
At 7:53 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Aw, shucks...thanx. I would think it might be interesting to many, especially considering all I've been reading in the news about this lately.

Had a pretty interesting discussion with one guy in the comments to one of the state papers that had an article on Obamacare. He was actually an insurance guy, too, but declined to get involved with Obamacare. Something about his liability insurance, or some such, not covering him should he try to sell Obamacare stuff. He seemed mostly interested in the experiences I've had, most of which has been recounted here.

 
At 10:03 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

I'm at the Covered CA site now. It says they received my driver's license upload but it's "unverified". I can't find an link to try and upload my tax info. Hmmm???

Tried calling Anthem Blue Cross again. They seemed to have changed their menu overnight into one of those voice activated ones. I hate those.

I called CoveredCA instead. Message said my wait time could be up to 30 minutes. Nope. Not gonna sit there for that long.

 
At 11:31 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So let me get this straight supposably we can land on the moon but we can't create a web site that works correctly maybe they should get a little help from the porn industry or perhaps just maybe there's a reason why the website doesn't work correctly...
THC

 
At 11:37 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

I read recently that they have a backlog of 25,000 applications holding them up. I believe those were paper applications but maybe that's holding everything else up?

As an aside, another thing I found downright goofy about the way they're doing this is their e-mail. I saw that I had a message from them on the Obamacare site. I go to see what it is and it's a pdf file.

It's basically the same letter they would send you via postal service but in pdf. Seemed pretty lame to send me a message as a pdf file when they could have just sent a regular e-mail.

 
At 12:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Message said my wait time could be up to 30 minutes. Nope. Not gonna sit there for that long."

You're not willing to wait 30 minutes in order to ensure you don't end up uninsured? Well, that's a choice you can make, I guess.

 
At 12:53 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Nope. I'll wait and call later.

 
At 4:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

O.K. but as we get closer to the deadline, wait times may get longer, rather than shorter. But you might make out better at a different time of day.

I don't understand why you didn't just upload your income verification when you uploaded your residency verification? When I did it, the two sections were right there on the same page. Did one, did the other, took all of 5 minutes to do both. Total time spent on the Covered California website, less than 1/2 hour.

Not sure quite what to make of all your reported difficulties. The federal website was a total disaster at first, and from what I understand, it's still far from perfect. But the state website worked great for me. I can't vouch for the quality of the help on the Covered California helpline, because I had no need for it.

 
At 7:47 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

I don't understand why you didn't just upload your income verification when you uploaded your residency verification?

Silly me. I was just fooling around trying to see what I could do. I Probably should have done it when I had the chance.

Where I probably blew it was jumping on that one plan because I wasn't sure I'd find it again. I'm guessing once you have selected a plan the web site doesn't allow you to go back? I don't know, but that's how it looks right now. It does allow you to go back and edit personal info.

I did see a link to withdraw from the plan. I suppose I could try that.

 
At 8:35 AM, Anonymous Alaska mounty said...

The state is going to own you and your assets.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/obamacare-shotgun-wedding-marry-lose-091500078.html

"Here’s where the law of unintended consequences comes into Obamacare. Thanks to the exchange programming, consumers are getting enrolled in Medicaid whether they understand what that means or not, and in much greater numbers than before. (In the first month, nearly 90 percent of all the enrollees in the federal and state exchanges were Medicaid applicants.)

Unless they look at the fine print in the paperwork in Washington and other states with similar asset-forfeiture regulations, any assets they own will not pass to their heirs but to the state instead."

 

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