A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

ACA signup difficulties

Posted: Mar 31, 2014

Tried to sign up for healthcare first online by completing my in process application that I started about a month ago and then by phone. Went something like this:

Online my application had to be removed as I had changed jobs and had to input all new info for myself and hubby. Then it stated that my husband was not enrolling. Say what? I checked the box that he was indeed enrolling. So I go to edit his info and check the box that he is my spouse. I get a message stating I cannot have more than 1 spouse. Huh? So I try to go back and edit his prior info and cannot do that without going through the entire application process and then it again tells me that he is not enrolling in healthcare coverage. I tried to go to the very beginning and redo another application but the website is now TOO BUSY and I must sit and wait or submit my email and wait for a message to let me know when I can go back on. Thanks so much!

I decide to call. I wait for 20 minutes after being asked what state I am calling from. I get a man (ESL). I tell him the troubles I had on the healthcare.gov site. He tells me that my state has it's own website to apply for healthcare and I should go there to apply. (I know this.) I tell him that it will only redirect me to the healthcare.gov site. He tells me, yes, he knows this (did he not hear the trouble I had just encountered there?)and says that there is a number to call for my state. I ask him for the number, he says he doesn't have it but he will gladly help me finish my application since he can't find the number. Somehow I doubt his ability to help me complete and submit. NO THANKS!

So I go back to the healthcare.gov site and still busy.

One would think that they would be a bit more prepared for this.

;

Sounds like a cable TV company - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I never leave things to the last minute, though, because it is always worse then. Like shopping on Christmas Eve or waiting until April 15th to file taxes.

Lucky for you, there is an extension - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Consumers in states using federally managed exchanges via HealthCare.gov can self-attest that they began the process prior to the deadline to qualify for a so-called special enrollment period. Across the remaining states, the rules vary. For example, in Connecticut, Monday remains the hard deadline, while Oregon residents have until the end of April.

I created an account, but afterward it asked me - to re-log-in, and when I try to -sm-

[ In Reply To ..]
log in, nothing happens. No error message or anything, it just sits for a minute, and then the empty log-in boxes appear again.

If I already (supposedly) have an account, but haven't gone any further, such as sign up for insurance or give income or job (or lack thereof), am I still considered to be in "under the wire", without tax penalty?

On my state there is a "enrollment attempt form" - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
You click this on the State insurance web site. It would be different for every state.

Answer to my question above: I found out that - yes, if you merely enrolled, then -sm--

[ In Reply To ..]
you're safe. Apparently the part of the website that actually enrolls you in a specific plan was either down (or taken down in anticipation of a flood of people trying to use it) temporarily. No doubt that part of the website is more complex and interactive, and more likely to be crashed if overused. The sign-up process mainly just was a fill-in-data-and-click process.

So at least we now have 2 weeks to actually sign up with a plan. I also am willing to bet that if there's another glitch in the system between now and April 15th, they'll extend it if they have to. After all, they WANT people to join these plans. If people have trouble during the next two weeks, or all try to sign up at midnight on April 14th and can't, they don't want all those folks to just say "Screw it!" and walk away from it. So I think it would be in everyone's best interest, including the healthcare plans, to get EVERYONE who created an account signed up and paying into the system, rather than turning any of them away.

I went to sign up with Covered CA and after filling - in my income, it said I qualify for - SM

[ In Reply To ..]
Medicaid, the free insurance. Hopefully that will go through without a hitch. Anyone else applied for Medicaid through the Obamacare site, and did you get signed up successfully? I'm just about to start.

Update: Got signed up and enrolled. - this stinks

[ In Reply To ..]
Had to delete my prior application and redo the entire application, this time without a hitch. Couldn't believe it. Got my husband and myself insured for $98/month with the Blue Cross Silver Choice. Then added dental for another $76/month. If I was not IC I would be paying more than that for myself as an employee. Glad I switched back to IC. I get paid more per line and less for insurance and get to have my husband insured also. Now I only hope that I don't have any problems with doctors accepting this plan. Crossing my fingers.

I think the coverage is a great idea. But the - website is dismally dysfunctional - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
because they obviously hired some bargain-basement web designer/programmer to build it. I finally gave up. It's cheaper for me to pay the stupid fine than it is to waste hour upon hour of work time from my side-job to try to sign up.

Fuggetaboutit! I'll just use the E.R. at County General, like everyone else in my neighborhood does.

Similar Messages:

Nov 13, 2013
79,000 of that 106,000 enrolled through state exchanges, which have some glitches but are mostly working pretty well. 26,800 enrolled through the federal exchange. 19.5 million people visited healthcare.gov during the reporting period 10/1 - 11/2. Nearly 400,000 new people have been determined to be eligible for Medicaid (can expect a large enrollment rate in this group). Other info: Originally, before the computer problems were realized, reportedly the expected enrollment dur ...