Obamacare experiences -- post 'em if you've got 'em

[armbarboy]

Details posted on facebook by a friend tonight. Edited down for anonymity.

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My friend went the ACA route last year because it was a little cheaper than her Cobra.

Three times this year they raised her premiums.

Last month they sent a letter saying they canceled her plan and another company would take it over, and the premium would only rise a little and all the same doctors would be on the plan.

She called to talk to someone on the phone and learned that the premium would actually be doubling. Then the phone call was cut off.

She gets in touch with someone again but it's after the open enrollment period is over and she learns that she has been automatically enrolled in thdouble-her-old-premiums plan without her authorization.

And several more lies are revealed, including she is finally told that none of her old doctors will be on her new plan, including the doctor for a life-threatening situation she has been dealing with this past year.

And they're automatically withdrawing the premiums from her savings account -- even though they're a different company that she didn't authorize to do so.

She's not permitted to cancel the policy now. She has to wait until February to cancel it. All the while paying the dramatically increased amount for her insurance and having to pay out of pocket for the doctors who are no longer covered.

She took the drastic step of closing her bank account so the insurance company could not withdraw the payments.

This will be the first time she has ever been without insurance.

 

[Hankooks]

Closing her account will end up a mistake imo. Other than one guy at work signing up I have no experience with it.

 

[Lord_Impaler]

I'm currently dealing with these incompetent fools.

Somehow, amazingly, they can't confirm my identity with my full name,my address,my social security #, and my fucking license.....and time is running out for when you can sign up.

 

[scoopj]

Started contracting in Nov '13 and found insurance through BCBSNC for $304/mo (high deductible plan). Received a letter in Dec from Blue Cross telling me my plan would not be available in 2014 and that they would enroll me in the closest plan they could find, which ended up being like $1500 per month or something. I said fuck off and found something through the ACA for $704 per month (high deductible). So in effect, I was paying $5000 per year for a worse plan (higher OOP max, higher deductible). This year (2015) my rates went up 19.3%. I can't wait to get brought on full time. It will be an instant pay raise.

 

[WorldofWarcraft]

My insurance has doubled every year for the last 2 years, but I don't know if it's got something to do with Obamacare.

 

[Lord_Impaler]

Started contracting in Nov '13 and found insurance through BCBSNC for $304/mo (high deductible plan). Received a letter in Dec from Blue Cross telling me my plan would not be available in 2014 and that they would enroll me in the closest plan they could find, which ended up being like $1500 per month or something. I said fuck off and found something through the ACA for $704 per month (high deductible). So in effect, I was paying $5000 per year for a worse plan (higher OOP max, higher deductible). This year (2015) my rates went up 19.3%. I can't wait to get brought on full time. It will be an instant pay raise.

700 dollars a month is the best you could find?

Wtf that's brutal.

 

[ripskater]

My wife worked and we lost our insurance through Obamacare. So she quit her job because it wasn't worth working anymore. We can't afford Obamacare exchange prices. We joined some co op that keeps us from getting the Obamacare tax penalty. So we pay for all our Dr. visits out of pocket. If they exceed $350, the co op helps us a little later.

 

[PainIsLIfe]

I suspect a bit of stretched truth in the OP if we're talking about through the market place.

I've helped a few clients sign up through the ACA and premiums are locked for the year. now if you under-estimated your income for the year or didn't count someone in your household's income you might be screwed at tax time, but I haven't heard any complaints from my clients.

btw- I shopped a plan for myself just to see the prices. Cash price for a silver plan for a family of 4 comp to my current plan was 1300/month with no subsidy on 90k/yr

edit: almost forgot, cobra for my current plan would be right at 20k

 

[Zipp]

 

[RockyLockridge]

What is an "obamacare"?

Canadian here.

 

[lil billy]

they sent me a letter last year that said i was qualified for medi-cal now because of the aca. Filled some forms out, picked a plan, a group, etc., waited a little while and just got my insurance card last week. didn't pay anything. haven't been to the doc yet though

 

[second sight]

bronze level for my family is 15-16 thousands dollars per year with a 6 thousand dollar deductible per person or 12 thousand per family.

gold level is $18,600.00 with a 2-4 thousand dollar deductible but the kick in the ass here is you have 20% coinsurance that takes you right back to the $6000.00 deductible
the only difference is this policy offers breaks on office visits, where the bronze policy you don't get a break until your deductible is met. so that means all these people buying these policy won't even be able to use them for anything but catastrophic coverage

thats all in network, out of network my out of pockets can reach as high as $30,000.00

I'm looking at 22-26 thousand dollars a year if we have to use this for something relatively minor

 

[Jake Jarmell]

My fianc

 

[ripskater]

bronze level for my family is 15-16 thousands dollars per year with a 6 thousand dollar deductible per person or 12 thousand per family.

gold level is $18,600.00 with a 2-4 thousand dollar deductible but the kick in the ass here is you have 20% coinsurance that takes you right back to the $6000.00 deductible
the only difference is this policy offers breaks on office visits, where the bronze policy you don't get a break until your deductible is met. so that means all these people buying these policy won't even be able to use them for anything but catastrophic coverage

thats all in network, out of network my out of pockets can reach as high as $30,000.00

I'm looking at 22-26 thousand dollars a year if we have to use this for something relatively minor

Man that's rough.

 

[Bay Area]

Lol at penalties for not having insurance. What happened to this country?

 

[edco76]

Personally, I don't have it.

But I have to deal with it some professionally. I'm in private EMS and it is just straight up killing us.

It is putting a big hurt on the hospitals here to. My wife is an RN and she says they have been in the red 2 years in a row after being profitable for 18 years in a row. Some of the crap they have to deal with is just stupid.

 

[Octavian]

Personally, I don't have it.

But I have to deal with it some professionally. I'm in private EMS and it is just straight up killing us.

It is putting a big hurt on the hospitals here to. My wife is an RN and she says they have been in the red 2 years in a row after being profitable for 18 years in a row. Some of the crap they have to deal with is just stupid.

Ummm... exactly how is greater insurance coverage killing a hospital? Makes... no... sense...

I have a truly hard time believing some of the stuff in this thread. Not to mention the aggravation towards Obamacare for private insurance companies malfeasance - laughable.

If you're under 26 and posting a grip about Obamacare, just know that you can always be on your parents plan via Cobra - new OC provision... so you don't have to bother with the exchange.

If you're also furious about the fees for coverage (and make less than something around 46k) you can qualify for some big subsidies to help with the cost. I've read that something like 85% of people that signed up on the exchanges qualify for those subsidies.

The true problem is that year over year premium increases are much different state to state.. but on average are rising not all that crazy an amount in historical prospective. What is angering many people is that the cheapest, bargain basement plans that covered virtually NOTHING are almost not available anymore thereby making it appear to people that they're getting screwed but in reality, in the long run when all is said and done, the greater their coverage the less liability and financial loss to the whole. This is a net positive to the population as a whole. People with high deductables (who are not on a company insurance plan) will just have to ration their care more than in the past, where other people on the same plan were probably picking up their tab through increased premiums.

 

[second sight]

the true problem is the law itself, Gruber talked about the obama voters being too stupid to figure it out....how fucking stupid are they now after being told and shown AND still can't figure it out



https://www.google.com/webhp?sa=N&hl=en&tab=lw&gws_rd=ssl#hl=en&q=gruber+admits+cost+will+rise

 

[Count Zero]

shots. fired.

 

[OldGoat]

I'm currently dealing with these incompetent fools.

Somehow, amazingly, they can't confirm my identity with my full name,my address,my social security #, and my fucking license.....and time is running out for when you can sign up.

Go to your local DMV. Now tell me you want these same crackheads running your healthcare.