In Which I Realize I Don't Need To Use The Health Insurance Marketplace (Post No. 6 of Adventures in Health Insurance)

In my continued journey to obtain the private health insurance now available due to The Affordable Care Act/Obamacare, I've been checking the status of my application at https://www.healthcare.gov/. After two weeks, it's still "in progress." I called and easily reached a real person at 1-800-318-2596. Unfortunately, he said there was no way to provide potential plan information until the application finished processing. At the very least, I'd hoped for an overview of the differences between plans so I could consider options while I wait.

Then a wonderful thing happened. I received a flyer from Blue Cross. With all the publicity, good and bad, over the government website, it hadn't occurred to me (and maybe it hasn't to many people) that I didn't need the website. As of 1/1/2014, private insurers can't turn down individual applicants, so why not just apply directly? 

I reached a salesperson within seconds who provided lots of information. Plans are categorized under the AFA/Obamacare as Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum. The main differences are the co-pays and premiums. With a Platinum plan, 100% of covered expenses are paid by the insurer once you hit your deductible. With a Bronze plan, only 60% are paid by the insurer. Platinum has the highest premiums. Different deductibles, out-of-pocket maximum payments, and plan types (such as HMO, PPO) are available for each category. Also, different networks are available. Based on the network that includes my doctor and the hospital where she has admitting privileges, the Blue Cross salesperson suggested five plans. I chose three with high deductibles to keep premiums down. He emailed me a quote within 10 minutes. At the Blue Cross website, I compared them feature-to-feature.

The next day, I called and applied. No past medical information needed, just age, gender, non-smoking, and where I live. (Chicago - I love an excuse to include a photo of Chicago. This is from the shared deck at my condo building.) Pre-Obamacare, it took hours to apply for an individual health insurance policy because it required a detailed health questionnaire and interview. So half an hour on the phone for this application seemed awesome to me, and it would have been quicker if I'd done it on line myself. I should receive confirmation within 7-10 days and will be insured starting 1/1/2014. I may throw a party.

I don't qualify for federal subsidies for premiums, but I could have applied for them if I needed to through Blue Cross. So it appears the only reason to use the government website is to comparison shop. But that can be done the old-fashioned way, by directly contacting different insurers. Once you're familiar with the plans and deductibles based on the first company you contact, you can then get quotes for similar plans from other insurers. As a guide, I've listed the steps I took below, with the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois references.

(1) Explore basics about the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum plans:

http://www.bcbsil.com/health-insurance-shopping-guide/compare-health-insurance-plans

(2) Check whether your doctor or doctors and hospitals are in the networks the insurer offers: http://provider.bcbs.com/

(3) Call or use website for quotes and to compare plans: 1-866-514-8044 or https://retailweb.hcsc.net/retailshoppingcart/IL/census?plantype=majormedical

(4) Apply by phone or website: 1-866-514-8044 or https://retailweb.hcsc.net/retailshoppingcart/IL/census?plantype=majormedical

Rinse and repeat for other health insurers.

I didn't check other insurers because I've had the Blue Cross PPO before and that's the coverage I wanted. But here are a couple other sites:

http://www.goldenrule.com/health-insurance/ (United Healthcare/Golden Rule)
https://www.humana.com/individual-and-family/products-and-services/medical-plans/ (Humana)

12/5/2013

An addendum because I'm excited -- I just received my Blue Cross card in the mail! (You can tell I'm very excited because I rarely use exclamation points, and I was tempted to include two.) I officially have an individual health insurance policy effective 1/1/14. My account on healthcare.gov still says "in progress," so I'm glad I took matters into my own hands. I have friends who are self-employed in Illinois who applied later than I did through the site. They've obtained coverage options, then bought coverage through the exchange. So I suspect I'm caught in some sort of technology loop. There's a Remove button that I will probably use to try to take myself out of the system. But I'm a little curious to see if it'll stay in the loop forever. Votes on how long I should wait before alleviating healthcare.gov of the burden of my unending application?

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Lisa M. Lilly is the author of Amazon occult best seller The Awakening. A short film of the title story of her collection The Tower Formerly Known as Sears and Two Other Tales of Urban Horror was recently produced under the title Willis Tower. Her poems and short fiction have appeared in numerous print and on-line magazines, including Parade of Phantoms, Strong Coffee, and Hair Trigger. She is currently working on The Awakening, Book II: The Unbelievers.

The Awakening for Kindle: http://amzn.to/pFCcN6

For Nook: http://bit.ly/15bViBm

Visit her website:  www.lisalilly.com

In Which I Probably Applied For Health Insurance (Post No. 5 of Adventures in Health Insurance)

Since my first attempt, I've been periodically checking the Illinois insurance exchange to apply for health insurance coverage under Obamacare (The Affordable Care Act). I'm self-employed and have coverage now through an Illinois program that allowed me to purchase what is basically an extension of COBRA coverage. COBRA, for those not familiar with it, is a law allowing someone covered under a group employer health plan to extend that coverage for 18 months after leaving employment, so long the person pays the premium. After the 18 months, I tried to buy individual health insurance but was turned down by two major carriers due to a pre-existing condition (though it's one that requires no on-going medical treatment). 

I've tried a few times to create an account on the website (link below), which is the first step on the journey to health insurance under Obamacare. On my past 4-5 tries, the system hung up, and I eventually gave up. This time I got through and created an account. I then applied for coverage. At least I think I did. It took a little patience:

Like a lot of government and private company websites, the exchange asks a second or third time for information already provided. The system also has to verify the applicant's identity even after a name and address are filled in, maybe due to duplicate names out there. (I know of at least one other Lisa Lilly who is also an attorney; I keep meaning to call her and say hi.) I was asked a few questions about myself, then was rejected as unverified and given new questions. I suspect the issue was that when asked what previous city I'd lived in, I didn't check Chicago. I live in Chicago now, and my past 2 addresses were Chicago addresses. I read the question as asking what city I'd lived in before living in Chicago. Apparently, the question actually meant what city did I live in when I resided at my previous address. On my second try, I answered Chicago and the system believed I am me and allowed me to move to the next screen.

In addition to a few duplicative and sometimes irrelevant questions (did the government really need to ask me about my previous addresses and my home equity credit line when I'd already provided my social security number?), the process is slowed by processing time after each screen. I recommend multi-tasking, or at least listening to some good music while you're going through it.

All in all, it took about 45 minutes, plus another 10 because I decided to review my info before submitting an application. I thought all my information would appear on one screen or a PDF for review. But, no, reviewing requires going through every single screen again complete with wait time. After reaching the end again and submitting, I got a message that my application was in progress but no information on what happens next. I'd been hoping to check some price quotes, but either I zipped past that or there's no chance to do it until the application is done.

Despite it taking some time, it's a much easier process than applying for an individual policy on the private market. There are no questions about past medical history, past health insurance policies, or past employment.

I did not fill out the questions to determine if I could get assistance making health insurance premium payments. My income from writing and law has been reasonably good during the time I've been self-employed, and I have no dependents. From what I've read, I would not qualify for financial help, so I didn't see any reason to go through the process.

In a day or two, I'll check the website again for the status of my application.  Once again, stay tuned if you'd like to read about the next steps.

Finally, here is the link for the Illinois health insurance exchange if you are looking to buy coverage:  https://www.healthcare.gov/marketplace/individual/#state=illinois  (If you're in another state, you can still use this link. Just choose your own state from the drop down menu.)

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Lisa M. Lilly is the author of Amazon occult bestseller The Awakening.  A short film of the title story of her collection The Tower Formerly Known as Sears and Two Other Tales of Urban Horror was recently produced under the title Willis Tower.  Her poems and short fiction have appeared in numerous print and on-line magazines, including Parade of Phantoms, Strong Coffee, and Hair Trigger.  She is currently working on The Awakening, Book II: The Unbelievers.

The Awakening for Kindle: http://bit.ly/15bViBm

For Nook: http://amzn.to/pFCcN6

First Day Trying To Get On The Health Insurance Exchange (Post No. 4 of Adventures in Health Insurance)

This morning I tried to get on the Illinois Health Insurance Exchange. As I talked about in previous posts, I am self-employed as an author and attorney.  I bought health insurance through an Illinois program that allows people to continue their COBRA coverage. I was turned down for individual health insurance, so I'm hoping that through the Exchange I'll have some more options for coverage.

First, I needed to find the exchange. I googled "Illinois Get Covered" because I'd heard on the radio that was the website to check.  That got me to some links for sites with overall information about the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare, but I couldn't find a link to the actual exchange to see what type of coverage is available.  (Note to Illinois -- you might want to make that more obvious.)  So I Googled Illinois Health Insurance Exchange and eventually found my way to this link:  https://www.healthcare.gov/marketplace/individual/#state=illinois

You can choose your state on this homepage from a drop down menu, so this should work no matter what state you're in.  The homepages is Illinois, so I clicked Apply Now.  I got a screen telling me it was very busy now and to please wait for a log in page. I waited. Then I left and ate breakfast, came back, and found the log in screen.

I had to create an ID based on an email address. So, first thing to know is that you'll need an email address, at least to sign up on line. I used my law firm email and created a password. I reached a screen that said I needed to answer three security questions to finish setting up the account. I assume that's to be sure it's me next time I sign in, or in case I lose my password. Unfortunately, the security questions were blank, and nothing showed up in the drop down menus for each question. I clicked Live Chat and got a note thanking me for contacting Live Chat and asking me to wait for someone. I waited for a while, then needed to go to my office, so I closed the window.

I repeated the above process this afternoon (it did not remember my ID or password) and got stuck at the same place. It's been half an hour now that I've been waiting for someone from Live Chat. I tried sending a message explaining the issue but nothing happened.

Since the deadline to buy insurance on the exchange isn't until mid-December, I think that's enough for today. I'll try again later in the week.

Stay tuned.

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Lisa M. Lilly is the author of Amazon occult bestseller The Awakening.  A short film of the title story of her collection The Tower Formerly Known as Sears and Two Other Tales of Urban Horror was recently produced under the title Willis Tower.  Her poems and short fiction have appeared in numerous print and on-line magazines, including Parade of Phantoms, Strong Coffee, and Hair Trigger.  She is currently working on The Awakening, Book II: The Unbelievers.

The Awakening for Kindle: http://bit.ly/15bViBm

For Nook: http://amzn.to/pFCcN6