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Juan (name changed) used to have health insurance. Over the years Juan had been covered by his employer, his wife’s employer, and for the last several years he had been insured through an individual health plan that he had paid for himself. Juan dropped his policy in March 2013. It doesn’t matter why. He just did. And he has been uninsured since.
On Wednesday, August 6, 2014, Juan decided to buy a policy. He called his agent (me!) and asked to get a policy like the one he used to have. And I was forced to say, “Nope, not today”.
Four years since the passage of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and eight months into 2014 and all of this year’s changes and we still have a large number of Americans unaware of the law’s basics. Here are a few of the most important:
- It’s all Obamacare. The good. The bad. On or off the government’s online sale’s portal. Whether you are celebrating the success of Kentucky’s Kynect or flailing about with healthcare.gov, it is all Obamacare.
- You no longer have to answer health questions.
- Preexisting conditions are now covered.
- The premium is determined solely by your age, your address, and whether or not you smoke.
- We now fully cover annual physicals and preventive care.
- Maternity is covered the same as any other medical condition.
- Since we don’t ask questions, the only time most of us can buy a policy is during the Annual Open Enrollment Period.
- If you lose your policy or have a major life event, you are granted a Special Enrollment Period and allowed to buy a policy.
- Medicaid was expanded to help the working poor acquire needed coverage.
- There are tax credit subsidies to help a surprisingly large portion of our country pay for their policies.
- You will be fined if you don’t have coverage.
Nope, not today
Juan was able to purchase a short term policy to cover himself for the rest of 2014. He and I will talk again in the middle of November during the Annual Open Enrollment Period.
Everyday used to be a great day to buy insurance. Those days are gone…
DAVE
www.bcandb.com
From the website:
ReplyDeleteDavid Randolph says:
August 10, 2014 at 2:16 am (Edit)
Nope Not today. Can’t buy Can’t cancel Don’t Die!. Healthcare.gov has NO procedure to cancel do to death of policyholder.
Tried to cancel policy through the carrier ( standard procedure used for 20 years) do. to death of individual policy holder. I was sent a letter stating since the policy was purchased through healthcare.gov and the only way it can be changed OR cancelled is through healthcare.gov. Called healthcare.gov. gave them all the information they needed to cancel the policy. Was put on hold several times while rep tried to find out how to cancel the plan. Finally told that they would get back to me in 7-10 days. Received a call on day 7. Another 30 minutes on the phone( only put on hold 1 time) Gave the same information that I gave them last week and was told by the rep. that she would “see what she could do” to have the plan cancelled. I was told that if there was a spouse or dependents on the policy they could make changes to the policy. However, they do not have anything in place to cancel a policy due to the death of a single policyholder. ( No subsidy involved )
The Carrier was able to stop EFT prior to August premium being withdrawn but the policy has not been cancelled.
Nope. not today Nope. not this week.
This is shameful. They have invaded our business, but have no idea how to treat our clients. Our clients deserve better. I hope that this is resolved soon. Neither you nor your clients should have to deal with this dehumanizing incompetence.
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