Obamacare and You
A few days ago I wrote you about how conflicting information and advice from HealthCare.gov ("Your enrollment is complete. Your enrollment is not complete. Wait for your insurance plan to contact you. Don't wait for your insurance plan to contact you") had left me worried that I might suffer a lapse in coverage. This would have been disastrous for me, because I am in the middle of a serious health issue requiring immediate treatment. No such lapse occurred, in part because I sorted out the conflicting instructions on my own, which led me to reach out to my insurance plan and make my first payment before the deadline.
The Associated Press reporter I contacted about the matter has continued digging into this. He's found cases where people in my situation did suffer lapses in coverage. One case, that of a woman here in Tucson, started off like mine: HealthCare.gov told her that her enrollment was complete and that she should wait to be contacted by the plan she had chosen. The contact never came. Finally she did reach out to the insurance company, and found that it had never received her application from the government. There was nothing she could do, and it took the intervention of an AP reporter to resolve it and restore her coverage.
The obvious point is, most people don't have reporters in their corner batting for them. According the AP, the insurance industry calls cases like hers "health care orphans" -- people who enrolled, and were then lost in the system. In many such cases, the conflicting, confused feedback from the government of the type I received ultimately was not relevant because no matter what the consumer did or did not do after enrollment, files had been lost and the information needed to allow the company to accept the first payment and activate the plan simply wasn't there. Interestingly, the insurance industry spokespersons the reporter spoke with disagree with the HealthCare.gov spokespeople about how serious the problem is.
Believe me, if you're in a situation like mine and you suffer a lapse in coverage, it's serious. The threat alone is enough to cause sleepless nights.
What can you do if you are in this situation? I'm not sure, but it might be worthwhile to contact a health insurance agent to see if they can champion your cause; you may may find it difficult to penetrate the thick jungle of government bureaucracy on your own. For another, you might consider contacting a reporter. Here in Tucson I recommend KGUN9. For those living elsewhere, if your favorite local TV station has a good consumer or investigative unit, try them. Or, you can contact the AP reporter I spoke with, Ricardo Alonzo-Zalidvar. He can be reached through the Associated Press Washington DC bureau.
Kudos to Alonso-Zaldivar and his co-writer Tom Murphy for not letting this drop.
Here is the complete article, as it appeared in my morning paper, the Arizona Daily Star.
http://azstarnet.com/ap/business/orph...
As for me, I had my first round of surgery three days ago and am recovering. Once I'm fully back on my feet, more surgery lies ahead.
The Associated Press reporter I contacted about the matter has continued digging into this. He's found cases where people in my situation did suffer lapses in coverage. One case, that of a woman here in Tucson, started off like mine: HealthCare.gov told her that her enrollment was complete and that she should wait to be contacted by the plan she had chosen. The contact never came. Finally she did reach out to the insurance company, and found that it had never received her application from the government. There was nothing she could do, and it took the intervention of an AP reporter to resolve it and restore her coverage.
The obvious point is, most people don't have reporters in their corner batting for them. According the AP, the insurance industry calls cases like hers "health care orphans" -- people who enrolled, and were then lost in the system. In many such cases, the conflicting, confused feedback from the government of the type I received ultimately was not relevant because no matter what the consumer did or did not do after enrollment, files had been lost and the information needed to allow the company to accept the first payment and activate the plan simply wasn't there. Interestingly, the insurance industry spokespersons the reporter spoke with disagree with the HealthCare.gov spokespeople about how serious the problem is.
Believe me, if you're in a situation like mine and you suffer a lapse in coverage, it's serious. The threat alone is enough to cause sleepless nights.
What can you do if you are in this situation? I'm not sure, but it might be worthwhile to contact a health insurance agent to see if they can champion your cause; you may may find it difficult to penetrate the thick jungle of government bureaucracy on your own. For another, you might consider contacting a reporter. Here in Tucson I recommend KGUN9. For those living elsewhere, if your favorite local TV station has a good consumer or investigative unit, try them. Or, you can contact the AP reporter I spoke with, Ricardo Alonzo-Zalidvar. He can be reached through the Associated Press Washington DC bureau.
Kudos to Alonso-Zaldivar and his co-writer Tom Murphy for not letting this drop.
Here is the complete article, as it appeared in my morning paper, the Arizona Daily Star.
http://azstarnet.com/ap/business/orph...
As for me, I had my first round of surgery three days ago and am recovering. Once I'm fully back on my feet, more surgery lies ahead.
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