Obamacare and Me: Updated
I am one of the millions of Americans whose health care plans are being cancelled. I liked it. I wanted to keep it. I was told I could. I can't. Okay, fine. In canceling its coverage, my insurer referred its soon-to-be-former clients to the government health care marketplace at HealthCare.gov. I waited for that website to go live and then, hearing all about its travails in news reports, decided to wait further and give the problems time to clear up before applying. I spent hours comparing plans via the online Marketplace, and then filed my application one morning earlier this week. The process was quick and easy. I felt good about it, relieved not to experience the problems I'd heard about. Afterwards, the website reported that my enrollment was complete and advised me to wait to be contacted by the companies I'd selected to arrange for payment.
Fine so far. But the next afternoon, I received an email from the Marketplace stating the following: "You’ve taken the first steps toward getting health coverage at HealthCare.gov, but you still need to complete your enrollment." There was no explanation of what steps I had missed in failing to complete the enrollment, but the email did contain a link to a web page where it said I could finish up. I followed the link. It led back to the same page I'd seen before that had listed my enrollment status as "complete." It was still listing my enrollment status as "complete." I could find no reference on any of my account pages to the alarming email I'd just received, no information suggesting that I take any additional steps, and no buttons offering me the opportunity to do so. Atop the page, in huge black letters, was a question reading, "Forrest, what would you like to do?"
Just hours before receiving the email telling me that my enrollment was not complete, I learned from my doctor that I am in immediate need of major surgery. My current plan, the one that's being canceled, expires 12/31. What would Forrest like to do? "Not die" will do nicely.
At the bottom right hand corner of the page was a button reading "live chat." I clicked it. What followed next was – well, see for yourself. The transcripts are below. These are copied exactly from the chat sessions. (I've edited out the "please wait" and greeting messages from the top of each session; otherwise, these are unedited except where noted.)
Session #1
[6:33:35 pm]: Forrest
I completed my health care application yesterday, or thought I did. 3 hours ago I received an email containing this message: "You’ve taken the first steps toward getting health coverage at HealthCare.gov, but you still need to complete your enrollment. " Yet when I log in the screen says "status: complete." Which message is correct? What do I need to do now?
[6:35:15 pm]: Kartik
Thank you for your patience. I am still researching that information.
[6:35:21 pm]: Forrest
OK
[6:36:39 pm]: Kartik
Have you already choosen a plan?
[6:37:30 pm]: Forrest
I chose a health plan and a dental plan, submitted the applications, and my enrollment status, as I said, now reads as "complete" on the screen I receive after logging in.
[6:38:49 pm]: Kartik
You should be good. now you just need to wait for the insurance company to call you and set up the payment.
[6:39:13 pm]: Forrest
OK. Any idea why I would have received an email 3 hours ago, then, saying I wasn't good?
[6:40:16 pm]: Kartik
Its a glitch.
[6:41:06 pm]: Forrest
OK. Let's hope so. I just found out today that I will need surgery. My old health plan -- the one I liked and wanted to keep -- was canceled as of 12/31. So it's critically important that there be no lapses. Are there any pro-active steps I should take?
[6:43:27 pm]: Your chat session is over. Thanks for contacting us, and we hope we've answered your questions. Have a great day.
Session #2
Hi - I just had a chat session which was terminated before I got an answer to my final question. Please see the transcript of the chat session below. The question is at the end. This may be a "glitch" to you guys but it's life and death to me. I need to make sure I'm on the right track.
Transcript begins:
{Here I posted the transcript of the previous session. The response, after a delay of about a minute, was as follows:}
[6:43:27 pm]: Your chat session is over. Thanks for contacting us, and we hope we've answered your questions. Have a great day.
Session #3
[7:05:22 pm]: Forrest
Hi, Courtney. This is my third chat session in the last half hour. I keep getting terminated without my final question being answered. May I send you the transcript of the first chat session, or do we have to start from scratch?
[7:06:44 pm]: Courtney
You may provide me with your final question. I will be happy to answer it for you.
[7:07:39 pm]: Forrest
Well, the final question won't make any sense without knowing what I'm talking about. Okay, we'll do it piecemeal again. Here is the issue. I completed my health care application yesterday, or thought I did. 3 hours ago I received an email containing this message: "You’ve taken the first steps toward getting health coverage at HealthCare.gov, but you still need to complete your enrollment. " Yet when I log in the screen says "status: complete." Which message is correct? What do I need to do now?
[7:09:27 pm]: Courtney
Did the email provide a hyperlink?
[7:09:55 pm]: Courtney
After you completed the application did your veiw your eligibility results?
[7:10:15 pm]: Forrest
It did. I followed it. It led to my log-on screen. I logged on. I see a status messages that reads, as I said, "Enrollment complete."
[7:11:10 pm]: Courtney
To complete your enrollment, you would need to veiw, compare and choose a plan to enroll in.
[7:12:28 pm]: Forrest
Been there, done that. I chose a health plan, and chose a dental plan, and submitted the applications - which now reads, "complete." Now we're at the halfway point of the previous session. What do I do next?
[7:15:22 pm]: Courtney
If it shows that you have been successfully enrolled into the plan you chose, you then would need to contact that plan and set up how, and when to pay your premium.
[7:16:38 pm]: Courtney
You must make your first premium payment before your coverage starts. Generally, you must make your first premium payment on or before December 23, 2013, for the Marketplace to guarantee that your health coverage begins January 1, 2014. However, your plan may extend the time you have to make your first premium payment. For more information about when your premium payment is due and how to make your payment, please contact your health insurance company of your choosing.
[7:16:47 pm]: Forrest
OK, now you're giving me different advice from the last agent, who told me I need to wait for a phone call from the insurance companies involved. That is also what the information on the application stated. But now you are telling me I need to call them, is that correct? Is that why I received an email saying that my enrollment was not complete? And if that is the case, why does my greeting screen say just the opposite on log-in?
[7:19:53 pm]: Courtney
If you had received the message that your enrollment was a success. You would then contact your plan to set up your premium payment. For information about when your premium payment is due and how to make your payment, please contact your health insurance company.
[7:21:02 pm]: Forrest
OK. I have drilled through all of the screens on my account. I see no contact information for either company. Can you direct me to this?
[7:21:44 pm]: Courtney
Do you know the company you enrolled with and the state the company is in?
[7:22:42 pm]: Forrest
The dental plan is {I am deleting this for privacy}. The Medical plan is {also deleted}. Both plans were offered as part of the Arizona coverage. I don't know offhand where either is based.
[7:23:28 pm]: Courtney
Thank you. One moment please while I look that up.
{While she looked it up, I drilled again through every screen I could find on my Marketplace account to make sure I had not missed any instructions directing me to call a specific number or to go to a specific web page in order to make my first payment.}
[7:26:54 pm]: Forrest
While you are looking it up -- are you sure this is the way to do it? Will either company know who I am when I contact them? I just double checked and there is NO contact information on the marketplace comparisons, nor in the application process, which clearly stated to wait to be contacted. Will the companies have my information?
[7:29:40 pm]: Courtney
{Here Courtney pasted a phone number and web address for the health coverage company.}
[7:31:45 pm]: Forrest
OK, thanks. And what about {the dental company}. Also, please see my previous question. I'm concerned about the conflicting advice, and just learned today that I will need major surgery. My existing plan was canceled as of 12/31, so I can't afford any lapses.
[7:33:10 pm]: Courtney
I apologize. Thank you. One moment please while I look that up.
[7:37:25 pm]: Courtney
{Here she provides a phone number for the dental company, but still did not answer my question about whether the companies will have my information when I call them.}
[7:37:49 pm]: Forrest
Thank you, Courtney. I'm still looking for an answer to my final question, which is, to repeat: are you sure this is the right way to do it? The application process clearly stated that I should wait for a call. The previous agent said the same thing. Now you're saying the opposite. When I contact the companies, will they know who I am? I'm very concerned about this because I just learned today that I will need major surgery. My old plan was canceled out from under me as of 12/31, and I cannot afford any mistakes that might lead to a lapse in coverage.
[7:42:46 pm]: Courtney
As previously noted above. If you have recieved the message saying that your enrollment was a success you would need to contact the plan about premium payment. You must make your first premium payment before your coverage starts. Generally, you must make your first premium payment on or before December 23, 2013, for the Marketplace to guarantee that your health coverage begins January 1, 2014. However, your plan may extend the time you have to make your first premium payment. For more information about when your premium payment is due and how to make your payment, please contact your health insurance company.
[7:44:29 pm]: Courtney
You may also wait for a call from your plans and then discuss your payment set up then, if you choose.
[7:45:42 pm]: Forrest
I don't think we're connecting. I received an email telling me that my enrollment was NOT a success and that I needed to log in again to complete it. When I log in, I get a message that tells me my enrollment status is "complete." Please note that these two messages say opposite things. That is why I have contacted you. Which message is correct? No one seems to know. So I contacted this chat service. Now I'm getting diametrically opposing advice about the diametrically opposing messages. I'd really like to get it sorted out before this chat session ends.
[7:51:03 pm]: Courtney
A glitch may have caused an error in the messages. To check the status of your information to see if your enrollment was a success you will need to contact the Health Insurance Marketplace Call Center. Their telephone number is 1-800-318-2596. Representatives are available to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For privacy protection in live chat we are unable to access or accept personal information. I apologize for the inconvenience.
At this point, I thanked Courtney and ended the chat session. Kudos to her for at least not disconnecting me. (And let the record reflect that she was very courteous throughout the exchange).
First thing the next morning, I went to the insurance company website to which Courtney had directed me. That address consisted of a 1-sheet that stated the following: "The Health Insurance Marketplace will let {company name deleted} know that you have enrolled. This may take up to a few weeks. Then, we will send you a 'Notice of Acceptance' in the mail.... Please wait for the Notice of Acceptance to come in the mail before you make your payment [that last sentence was bolded in the original.]"
What?!?!?! Oh, my GOD. My heart leapt into my throat. That was so not going to do. A weeks-long delay would leave me in a world of hurt, as I had patiently explained to two agents (I'm not counting the one that simply wrote me off as a bad job and disconnected me right out of the gate.)
Trying not to panic, I called the phone number listed on the 1-sheet, and reached an insurance company agent. I gave him a summary of the odyssey listed above. He told me that I had not called the correct number, and then added, somewhat phlegmatically, that I been given "a lot of wrong information." No kidding! But he did give me the correct company number to call. And within an hour I was signed up. I will be paying about $35 more for health and dental coverage similar to what I had before.
The process of getting there would have left me with a few more gray hairs if it weren't for the fact that I'm bald, but when all was said and done, I did receive coverage. No harm, no foul, right? And I'm sure Obamacare defenders will be quick to say that the inconvenience and minor panic I experienced were a small price to pay for the fact that millions of Americans who didn't have health insurance before will now be able to get it. I won't argue. But here's the thing. The confused, conflicting, maddeningly glitchy mess I encountered in my dealings with HealthCare.gov and its agents does not inspire a great deal of confidence that the government knows what it's doing with our health care – control of which it has largely wrested from us. Based on what I've seen in the media, my experience is not unique, or even the worst. If the government is going to compel our participation in Obamacare under the authority of law and threat of penalty – which it has – then it damned well ought to get it right. Telling us the stone cold truth, giving us accurate instructions, and showing a little customer service would be a really good start. Strike that: it would be a welcome change. The option of starting with those things has passed.
Update: I contacted a reporter for a major national news outlet about this. The reporter got back to me today (12/30). He said the HealthCare.gov press office admitted that the email I received telling me that my enrollment was not complete was sent out by mistake. No explanation was offered as to why, despite three attempts, I had not been able to get my questions answered via the chat service.
You will not see this on the news, however. While the reporter agrees with me that others are probably getting the same conflicting emails and advice from HealthCare.gov, he believes they'll be able to figure it out on their own, just as I did.
Of course, the point is that they shouldn't have to figure it out on their own. That's what the chat service is for. Isn't it?
A little after talking with the reporter referenced above, I received an email from HealthCare.gov inviting me to take a customer service survey, which I did. The survey asked me about the health insurance I had enrolled in "today." Today is 12/30. I enrolled on 12/18. It seems obvious there is a severe lack of synchronization between HealthCare.gov's email service and the real-time status of its customer accounts. You might want to keep this in mind should you receive a confusing email from HealthCare.gov.
Now you know. Apparently, you won't be able to learn this any place else (so feel free to share the link to this blog.)
Forrest Carr
Writer and recovering journalist
forrestcarr99@gmail.com
1/5/2014 update:
In this morning's Arizona Daily Star is the story of a woman whose case bears similarities to mine. HealthCare.gov assured her that her insurance company would contact her. It didn't. Her letter of acceptance never arrived, and now she is without insurance.
Here is the link (see the Van Daele case):
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/south...
Fine so far. But the next afternoon, I received an email from the Marketplace stating the following: "You’ve taken the first steps toward getting health coverage at HealthCare.gov, but you still need to complete your enrollment." There was no explanation of what steps I had missed in failing to complete the enrollment, but the email did contain a link to a web page where it said I could finish up. I followed the link. It led back to the same page I'd seen before that had listed my enrollment status as "complete." It was still listing my enrollment status as "complete." I could find no reference on any of my account pages to the alarming email I'd just received, no information suggesting that I take any additional steps, and no buttons offering me the opportunity to do so. Atop the page, in huge black letters, was a question reading, "Forrest, what would you like to do?"
Just hours before receiving the email telling me that my enrollment was not complete, I learned from my doctor that I am in immediate need of major surgery. My current plan, the one that's being canceled, expires 12/31. What would Forrest like to do? "Not die" will do nicely.
At the bottom right hand corner of the page was a button reading "live chat." I clicked it. What followed next was – well, see for yourself. The transcripts are below. These are copied exactly from the chat sessions. (I've edited out the "please wait" and greeting messages from the top of each session; otherwise, these are unedited except where noted.)
Session #1
[6:33:35 pm]: Forrest
I completed my health care application yesterday, or thought I did. 3 hours ago I received an email containing this message: "You’ve taken the first steps toward getting health coverage at HealthCare.gov, but you still need to complete your enrollment. " Yet when I log in the screen says "status: complete." Which message is correct? What do I need to do now?
[6:35:15 pm]: Kartik
Thank you for your patience. I am still researching that information.
[6:35:21 pm]: Forrest
OK
[6:36:39 pm]: Kartik
Have you already choosen a plan?
[6:37:30 pm]: Forrest
I chose a health plan and a dental plan, submitted the applications, and my enrollment status, as I said, now reads as "complete" on the screen I receive after logging in.
[6:38:49 pm]: Kartik
You should be good. now you just need to wait for the insurance company to call you and set up the payment.
[6:39:13 pm]: Forrest
OK. Any idea why I would have received an email 3 hours ago, then, saying I wasn't good?
[6:40:16 pm]: Kartik
Its a glitch.
[6:41:06 pm]: Forrest
OK. Let's hope so. I just found out today that I will need surgery. My old health plan -- the one I liked and wanted to keep -- was canceled as of 12/31. So it's critically important that there be no lapses. Are there any pro-active steps I should take?
[6:43:27 pm]: Your chat session is over. Thanks for contacting us, and we hope we've answered your questions. Have a great day.
Session #2
Hi - I just had a chat session which was terminated before I got an answer to my final question. Please see the transcript of the chat session below. The question is at the end. This may be a "glitch" to you guys but it's life and death to me. I need to make sure I'm on the right track.
Transcript begins:
{Here I posted the transcript of the previous session. The response, after a delay of about a minute, was as follows:}
[6:43:27 pm]: Your chat session is over. Thanks for contacting us, and we hope we've answered your questions. Have a great day.
Session #3
[7:05:22 pm]: Forrest
Hi, Courtney. This is my third chat session in the last half hour. I keep getting terminated without my final question being answered. May I send you the transcript of the first chat session, or do we have to start from scratch?
[7:06:44 pm]: Courtney
You may provide me with your final question. I will be happy to answer it for you.
[7:07:39 pm]: Forrest
Well, the final question won't make any sense without knowing what I'm talking about. Okay, we'll do it piecemeal again. Here is the issue. I completed my health care application yesterday, or thought I did. 3 hours ago I received an email containing this message: "You’ve taken the first steps toward getting health coverage at HealthCare.gov, but you still need to complete your enrollment. " Yet when I log in the screen says "status: complete." Which message is correct? What do I need to do now?
[7:09:27 pm]: Courtney
Did the email provide a hyperlink?
[7:09:55 pm]: Courtney
After you completed the application did your veiw your eligibility results?
[7:10:15 pm]: Forrest
It did. I followed it. It led to my log-on screen. I logged on. I see a status messages that reads, as I said, "Enrollment complete."
[7:11:10 pm]: Courtney
To complete your enrollment, you would need to veiw, compare and choose a plan to enroll in.
[7:12:28 pm]: Forrest
Been there, done that. I chose a health plan, and chose a dental plan, and submitted the applications - which now reads, "complete." Now we're at the halfway point of the previous session. What do I do next?
[7:15:22 pm]: Courtney
If it shows that you have been successfully enrolled into the plan you chose, you then would need to contact that plan and set up how, and when to pay your premium.
[7:16:38 pm]: Courtney
You must make your first premium payment before your coverage starts. Generally, you must make your first premium payment on or before December 23, 2013, for the Marketplace to guarantee that your health coverage begins January 1, 2014. However, your plan may extend the time you have to make your first premium payment. For more information about when your premium payment is due and how to make your payment, please contact your health insurance company of your choosing.
[7:16:47 pm]: Forrest
OK, now you're giving me different advice from the last agent, who told me I need to wait for a phone call from the insurance companies involved. That is also what the information on the application stated. But now you are telling me I need to call them, is that correct? Is that why I received an email saying that my enrollment was not complete? And if that is the case, why does my greeting screen say just the opposite on log-in?
[7:19:53 pm]: Courtney
If you had received the message that your enrollment was a success. You would then contact your plan to set up your premium payment. For information about when your premium payment is due and how to make your payment, please contact your health insurance company.
[7:21:02 pm]: Forrest
OK. I have drilled through all of the screens on my account. I see no contact information for either company. Can you direct me to this?
[7:21:44 pm]: Courtney
Do you know the company you enrolled with and the state the company is in?
[7:22:42 pm]: Forrest
The dental plan is {I am deleting this for privacy}. The Medical plan is {also deleted}. Both plans were offered as part of the Arizona coverage. I don't know offhand where either is based.
[7:23:28 pm]: Courtney
Thank you. One moment please while I look that up.
{While she looked it up, I drilled again through every screen I could find on my Marketplace account to make sure I had not missed any instructions directing me to call a specific number or to go to a specific web page in order to make my first payment.}
[7:26:54 pm]: Forrest
While you are looking it up -- are you sure this is the way to do it? Will either company know who I am when I contact them? I just double checked and there is NO contact information on the marketplace comparisons, nor in the application process, which clearly stated to wait to be contacted. Will the companies have my information?
[7:29:40 pm]: Courtney
{Here Courtney pasted a phone number and web address for the health coverage company.}
[7:31:45 pm]: Forrest
OK, thanks. And what about {the dental company}. Also, please see my previous question. I'm concerned about the conflicting advice, and just learned today that I will need major surgery. My existing plan was canceled as of 12/31, so I can't afford any lapses.
[7:33:10 pm]: Courtney
I apologize. Thank you. One moment please while I look that up.
[7:37:25 pm]: Courtney
{Here she provides a phone number for the dental company, but still did not answer my question about whether the companies will have my information when I call them.}
[7:37:49 pm]: Forrest
Thank you, Courtney. I'm still looking for an answer to my final question, which is, to repeat: are you sure this is the right way to do it? The application process clearly stated that I should wait for a call. The previous agent said the same thing. Now you're saying the opposite. When I contact the companies, will they know who I am? I'm very concerned about this because I just learned today that I will need major surgery. My old plan was canceled out from under me as of 12/31, and I cannot afford any mistakes that might lead to a lapse in coverage.
[7:42:46 pm]: Courtney
As previously noted above. If you have recieved the message saying that your enrollment was a success you would need to contact the plan about premium payment. You must make your first premium payment before your coverage starts. Generally, you must make your first premium payment on or before December 23, 2013, for the Marketplace to guarantee that your health coverage begins January 1, 2014. However, your plan may extend the time you have to make your first premium payment. For more information about when your premium payment is due and how to make your payment, please contact your health insurance company.
[7:44:29 pm]: Courtney
You may also wait for a call from your plans and then discuss your payment set up then, if you choose.
[7:45:42 pm]: Forrest
I don't think we're connecting. I received an email telling me that my enrollment was NOT a success and that I needed to log in again to complete it. When I log in, I get a message that tells me my enrollment status is "complete." Please note that these two messages say opposite things. That is why I have contacted you. Which message is correct? No one seems to know. So I contacted this chat service. Now I'm getting diametrically opposing advice about the diametrically opposing messages. I'd really like to get it sorted out before this chat session ends.
[7:51:03 pm]: Courtney
A glitch may have caused an error in the messages. To check the status of your information to see if your enrollment was a success you will need to contact the Health Insurance Marketplace Call Center. Their telephone number is 1-800-318-2596. Representatives are available to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For privacy protection in live chat we are unable to access or accept personal information. I apologize for the inconvenience.
At this point, I thanked Courtney and ended the chat session. Kudos to her for at least not disconnecting me. (And let the record reflect that she was very courteous throughout the exchange).
First thing the next morning, I went to the insurance company website to which Courtney had directed me. That address consisted of a 1-sheet that stated the following: "The Health Insurance Marketplace will let {company name deleted} know that you have enrolled. This may take up to a few weeks. Then, we will send you a 'Notice of Acceptance' in the mail.... Please wait for the Notice of Acceptance to come in the mail before you make your payment [that last sentence was bolded in the original.]"
What?!?!?! Oh, my GOD. My heart leapt into my throat. That was so not going to do. A weeks-long delay would leave me in a world of hurt, as I had patiently explained to two agents (I'm not counting the one that simply wrote me off as a bad job and disconnected me right out of the gate.)
Trying not to panic, I called the phone number listed on the 1-sheet, and reached an insurance company agent. I gave him a summary of the odyssey listed above. He told me that I had not called the correct number, and then added, somewhat phlegmatically, that I been given "a lot of wrong information." No kidding! But he did give me the correct company number to call. And within an hour I was signed up. I will be paying about $35 more for health and dental coverage similar to what I had before.
The process of getting there would have left me with a few more gray hairs if it weren't for the fact that I'm bald, but when all was said and done, I did receive coverage. No harm, no foul, right? And I'm sure Obamacare defenders will be quick to say that the inconvenience and minor panic I experienced were a small price to pay for the fact that millions of Americans who didn't have health insurance before will now be able to get it. I won't argue. But here's the thing. The confused, conflicting, maddeningly glitchy mess I encountered in my dealings with HealthCare.gov and its agents does not inspire a great deal of confidence that the government knows what it's doing with our health care – control of which it has largely wrested from us. Based on what I've seen in the media, my experience is not unique, or even the worst. If the government is going to compel our participation in Obamacare under the authority of law and threat of penalty – which it has – then it damned well ought to get it right. Telling us the stone cold truth, giving us accurate instructions, and showing a little customer service would be a really good start. Strike that: it would be a welcome change. The option of starting with those things has passed.
Update: I contacted a reporter for a major national news outlet about this. The reporter got back to me today (12/30). He said the HealthCare.gov press office admitted that the email I received telling me that my enrollment was not complete was sent out by mistake. No explanation was offered as to why, despite three attempts, I had not been able to get my questions answered via the chat service.
You will not see this on the news, however. While the reporter agrees with me that others are probably getting the same conflicting emails and advice from HealthCare.gov, he believes they'll be able to figure it out on their own, just as I did.
Of course, the point is that they shouldn't have to figure it out on their own. That's what the chat service is for. Isn't it?
A little after talking with the reporter referenced above, I received an email from HealthCare.gov inviting me to take a customer service survey, which I did. The survey asked me about the health insurance I had enrolled in "today." Today is 12/30. I enrolled on 12/18. It seems obvious there is a severe lack of synchronization between HealthCare.gov's email service and the real-time status of its customer accounts. You might want to keep this in mind should you receive a confusing email from HealthCare.gov.
Now you know. Apparently, you won't be able to learn this any place else (so feel free to share the link to this blog.)
Forrest Carr
Writer and recovering journalist
forrestcarr99@gmail.com
1/5/2014 update:
In this morning's Arizona Daily Star is the story of a woman whose case bears similarities to mine. HealthCare.gov assured her that her insurance company would contact her. It didn't. Her letter of acceptance never arrived, and now she is without insurance.
Here is the link (see the Van Daele case):
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/south...
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