Obamacare/Trumpcare Horror Stories

[fan_since79]

In California we also have the problem of about 100,000 people who Covered California doesn't recognize as citizens, which they most certainly are. I am one of those people who was told that my Social Security number could not be verified. I am still not sure whether they have looked over all the documents I sent, and my "conditional" enrollment expires at the beginning of March.

To reach Covered California one must carve out an hour or two to wait on hold. 

 

I am half expecting to receive a notice canceling my policy next month. 

 

Oh, by the way, I received my ID card from Anthem yesterday, TWO MONTHS after making my payment. I still have not received a policy statement. 

 

The nightmare might be over finally.

 

 

[nate]

Also 75% of my team is in the northeast and all of our offices are closed today because of this storm.  

[Tank]

Back in the 80s I had a desk calendar with clever and funny sayings, anecdotes, and quotes. One that I kept fron said "if builders built buildings the way programmers write programs, then the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization." This thread has often reminded me of that quote.

[Blarg]

There is a peckerhead in office doing just that.

[fan_since79]

Got a letter from Covered California today telling me to "choose a plan". They said my application would "expire" if I didn't, and I would have to wait until the end of the year when open enrollment starts up again.

 

Idiots!! I chose a plan almost THREE MONTHS AGO, had it approved by Covered California, paid several months of premiums, and finally have my ID cards from Anthem Blue Cross. What is their problem?!

 

Now I have to get on the phone tomorrow morning and straighten out yet another in a long series of screwups by the people in charge of my health care.

 

It never stops. What's next?!

Edited February 20, 2014 by fan_since79

[fan_since79]

Haha, the Covered California site is down "for maintenance". 

 

What a joke! 

 

 

[fan_since79]

Covered California site has been down three days. No estimate on when it might be back up. 

 

"Software problems" is the reason given. What a total mess! They invite you to call, but that's an almost impossible task. How many people have a couple hours in the middle of their day to wait on hold?!

 

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Covered-California-website-stymied-by-software-5256644.php

 

From the comments, it seems other people are having some of the same problems I've experienced. 

 

 

[Jim]

Not to mention they want you to use the number on an ID card they haven't sent you yet.

hahahaha, oh ****!

[Blarg]

This is like the Iran hostage crisis where Americans are under the control of political zealots and the President sits on his hands.

[Jim]

After having read another installment of the ongoing saga that is the Anthem Blue Cross/Obamacare debacle, my wife happened by the office, so I shared with her this thread I've been reading over the last couple of months of the trials and tribulations 79 is going through. Well…. I released upon myself at least a half hours’ worth of venting about how awful the company Anthem Blue Cross is to work with. I should mention my wife works as a nurse/case manager for a large trauma center in Orange Co. When she finally finished her tirade walking away frustrated shaking her head, I couldn't help but feeling bad that I had wrecked her morning. Who knows, maybe it was helpful getting all that frustration out? Either way, I have promptly added Anthem Blue Cross to the list of things to never talk about with the Mrs.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Jim

[Blarg]

She saw your avatar, that's why she is pissed.

[mp170.6]

After having read another installment of the ongoing saga that is the Anthem Blue Cross/Obamacare debacle, my wife happened by the office, so I shared with her this thread I've been reading over the last couple of months of the trials and tribulations 79 is going through. Well…. I released upon myself at least a half hours’ worth of venting about how awful the company Anthem Blue Cross is to work with. I should mention my wife works as a nurse/case manager for a large trauma center in Orange Co. When she finally finished her tirade walking away frustrated shaking her head, I couldn't help but feeling bad that I had wrecked her morning. Who knows, maybe it was helpful getting all that frustration out? Either way, I have promptly added Anthem Blue Cross to the list of things to never talk about with the Mrs.

 

Look at it this way.  You spared somebody else the same treatment at either UCI, Mission, or West Med Santa Ana. 

[Jim]

She saw your avatar, that's why she is pissed.

Hmmm

[Jim]

Look at it this way.  You spared somebody else the same treatment at either UCI, Mission, or West Med Santa Ana. 

Nice, my good deed for the week is done.   

[fan_since79]

Here's a real horror story: a woman who had cancer and a good plan. Now, Obamacare won't cover the drug that is keeping her alive. Unbelievable.

 

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303945704579390772732855560?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB1000142405270230394570457939077273

Edited February 24, 2014 by fan_since79

[fan_since79]

240 reasons why Obamacare is bad news:

 

http://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/obamacare-59/

 

 

I had not known that some 20,000 pages were added to the original 2,000+ page law, without a Congressional vote.

[Blarg]

Don't worry, they never read the first 2,000 pages and look how well that turned out.

[AngelsLongBall]

Our company insurance renewal went up 40%.  We budgeted for it to go up, but holy moly, not that much.

[fan_since79]

Our company insurance renewal went up 40%.  We budgeted for it to go up, but holy moly, not that much.

 

Just wait till next year!

[Tank]

Our company insurance renewal went up 40%.  We budgeted for it to go up, but holy moly, not that much.

 

yikes.

 

i sure hope the ten million that eventually benefit from this plan are able to show their appreciation somehow to the 100 million that are going to get screwed by it.

[fan_since79]

Federal agency: Two-thirds of small business employees will see higher premiums from Obamacare

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/02/25/the-insiders-another-day-another-obamacare-disaster/

 

 

This, from the liberal Washington Post!

Edited February 26, 2014 by fan_since79

[Adam]

Don't worry, they never read the first 2,000 pages and look how well that turned out.

 

If you can't trust a bunch of 20 year old pot smoking Georgetown students to write the biggest piece of legislation in forever, who can you trust?

[nate]

It really has become comedy.  CMS honestly has no clue what is in the bill.  Half the time it is our legal department explaining to them what they need to do.

 

Sometimes they just do a "well this is how we do it with Medicare" approach.  Of course they are also making decisions that totally **** us monetarily.  They don't give two shits if our company loses money.  They are granting just about every single exception request that comes to them.  Allowing people to enroll back two months because they had a bunch of medical costs.

 

It sounds like throughout the industry about 15-20% of Obamacare members have not paid their second months premium.  They will be terminated for non payment soon.

[fan_since79]

When their policies are cancelled, they'll have to wait until October 15th to start over again. That's when open enrollment begins for 2015.

 

Some (or many?) of these people have tried to pay, but the payments get lost somewhere along the line. That was the crux of my problem originally, that nobody seemed to have a record of my payment for several weeks. I have seen many people complaining about this on several sites.

[nate]

One issue we are not having is accepting and applying payments.  We did have some trouble creating accurate bills (mostly due to garbage information from the exchange but also because it is a new process that had some kinks to be worked out), but we never sent them to the member inaccurate, they were just delayed.  Because of that we extended the payment deadline accordingly.

Edited February 26, 2014 by nate