The Affordable Care Act Part III - Endgame

Success has been achieved! My wife is the owner of a brand new shiny health insurance policy. In my last post I was waiting for the phone to ring in order to gain access to the website. Those that know me personally know how patient I am, so yes, I called them back yesterday. A real person answered the phone!

In working with her to solve the problems that kept me from logging into the website it became apparent that the people who are there to assist, really try very hard to do just that. She was pleasant and apologized repeatedly for the problems I was having. Several times during my time on the phone with her, she had to put me on hold while she worked through a problem. Each time she explained what she needed to do and apologized for putting me on hold. Every time she came back to the line, she thanked me for holding. We had been at this for about an hour when she told me she would put me on hold one more time, we were almost there. The hold music played about three notes before the line disconnected. To say I was unhappy would be a very large understatement.

I called back, and after a short wait I was explaining what had happened to a new person. I was hoping to get back to the woman who had been helping me; we were almost done. There is no way for that to be done. Worse yet, the computer system had crashed. I was asked to wait several hours and try calling back. I did learn one more piece of information during this call that helps me to understand just how difficult these representative's job is. The reason the phone disconnected is because the phone system is part of the same computer system used to enroll people in healthcare.

As I stated earlier, I am known for my patience. I called back after waiting about ten minutes. It seems my luck was changing. After explaining the problem yet again to another representative, she happily informed me that the computers were again in working order. No, she had no way of getting me back to representative one, but would be happy to help me finish getting the problems resolved. Within 15 minutes she had all of the concerns fixed and confirmed that I now had access to the website. She also generated a code that would allow me extra time to choose a policy and still have coverage on January first.

After shopping the various policies, my wife and I picked one that would allow my wife to retain her current doctors, without breaking the bank. Made that sound simple, didn't I. It can be very confusing to try and pick a policy based on coverage. What the website shows you is your deductibles and co-pays after any subsidy is applied. When you look at the plan benefits they don't match up. The plan benefits are shown at the retail prices. Not well versed in insurance plans made this a confusing journey for me.

I was directed to the insurance company website to pay the first month's premium for the chosen policy so coverage could begin on time. Upon completing the payment, I was emailed a receipt and the promise of a policy and an I.D. card arriving shortly in the mail. My wife was insured!

Four days of fighting the website, three phone conversations, three very helpful representatives, and I finally have insurance for my wife. My thoughts after this experience are mixed. The A.C.A. does make it possible for me to be able to have health insurance for my wife. Without the subsidy that would not be possible. The people who answer the phone must have halos. They spend their entire day trying to help people with a system so complex that lawyers do not understand it. They accomplish this task with a computer system that has done nothing but crash for more than a year, and yet all three people I dealt with were cheerful and polite.

I'll leave you today with this thought. You are the first representative I talked to. You have spent the better part of an hour fixing all the little glitches so that I can access the website. You are almost done, last step. The system crashes and the phones go dead. You have no way to reconnect with me and even if I call back, I cannot be reconnected to you. Let's be optimistic and assume this only happens twice a day. Could you remain cheerful and polite?

It would seem to me that as frustrating as this is for the consumer, it has to be a stress filled nightmare for those who deal with this every day.

The Affordable Care Act Part II

Another year has come and gone. Last year about this time I posted about my problems with trying to follow the law and sign up for the A.C.A. The end result last year was applying for an exemption due to the un-affordability for my family.

Here is this year's update. They have fixed some parts of the web-site. Creating an account went smoothly enough, although it refused to retain an address for my wife. After 5 attempts, I assumed that could be fixed at a later date. I completed the rest of the application without incident. The last step of the process is to review and electronically sign that you are providing true information.

Once this step completes, you find out what type of subsidy you qualify for, and begin to shop the available plans. I had done my research, discussed it with family and knew which plan we were hoping to afford. Was I disappointed or surprised? There is the question that cannot yet be answered. On more attempts than I can count, every time I reached the step that would provide the answer, the website displayed an error code. Same code, over and over. I'm two days into the process and stuck exactly where I was last year and the deadline was midnight yesterday. Now what?

Fear not! Displayed on the error code screen was an 800 number that is live 24/7 to help with this or any other problem. Just like last year, I could receive phone assistance. After last year's experience, I knew the hold time could be hours. I was prepared, a snack, fresh drink, and the phone fully charged.

This is where I can proudly tell you about yet another improvement to the service. You no longer need concern yourself with being on hold; it is no longer an option. Leave your name and number and someone will contact you in 5 to 7 days. By leaving the message you are meeting the midnight deadline.

Maybe I'm an optimist, but I would have thought given the problems that were apparent in the launch last year, and a year to get it fixed, it would actually work. The fact that it still does not work well enough to actually purchase insurance without support that is not available, has me wondering if it can be fixed. Maybe a better question is, should it?

If anyone needs me, I'll be waiting for my call for the next 5 to 7 days.

Random Thoughts

It’s been a long cold winter for most of us. The snow and temperatures have kept me from writing because my focus was absorbed in the pain this winter brought. Now that some semblance of warmth has begun to return, I find myself wanting to see if the fingers are willing to pound around the keyboard. The problem is what to address. There are so many things that can be talked about. So, tonight will just be random thoughts on what’s going on in the world.

In an earlier post I addressed the ACA and my experience with trying to get signed up. I finally logged on and found the policies that would fit our needs. The premium for a scaled down plan was $174.00 a month with a $12,500.00 deductible. How is this a better plan than no insurance? The whole idea was that no one should have to go bankrupt to have adequate health care. Am I the only one that would have to go bankrupt to meet that deductible? The ACA has some very good programs that would help those that need them, but the mandate that I buy insurance to prevent financial disaster, that in itself would cause the same disaster is ludicrous.

Let’s move to money for a minute. It now costs more than 2 cents to produce a penny, and a dime to produce a nickel. I’m not talking profit margins; I’m talking to actually mint them. We are spending twice the face value of the coin to produce it. This would seem an easy problem to solve and save millions of dollars a year. Why can none of our elected officials recognize and fix such an obvious waste of money?

It would appear that Russia is no longer the ally we thought. I don’t know about you, but I’m shocked; Not. When the US discontinued its space program and announced we would depend on Russia for transportation to and from the ISS, I believed it to be a huge mistake. If Putin pushes further into the Ukraine and we impose the sanctions that are being discussed, we as a country will no longer have a way to reach the ISS and Russia will control the space station we built. How could that be bad? I do not think it is in the best interests of our country to try and police what Putin is doing. This has to be a problem that our European allies address. It’s their backyard, it should be their lead.

Then there is that corrupt president we put in power in Afghanistan, Mr. Karzai. He was willing to play along with democracy until his term limit approached. He has had years with us backing him, while he focused on making himself powerful and wealthy. He has avoided signing a continuing agreement with the US, while at the same time eagerly coming to terms with Iran and the Taliban. He now wants all US troops out of the country by years end. I have no problem with that. As we are leaving we can use unused munitions to destroy anything we built that may be of use to him. I believe that we should also warn him that we will not tolerate, but obliterate anything within his borders that would support terrorism. We do not need boots on the ground to do that. Let's make that our policy for all countries that harbor terrorists.

A quick note about our continuing agreement with Afghanistan; the tribal councils and leaders of Afghanistan met and ratified this agreement in ONE weekend. Karzai has refused to sign it. The point I’m making is that this group of leaders who primarily live in what can only be described as just above Stone Age conditions, discussed it, made compromises, and agreed to it in a weekend. Our representatives in Washington should be ashamed. The Afghan representatives put their country before their personal wants or needs and moved forward in the best interests for the people, something our representatives have forgotten how to do.

It would seem the Middle East is in complete turmoil again. We took out a brutal dictator in Iraq, occupied the country so they could form a government and learn to protect themselves, and then left. The result is worse than before we went in. Afghanistan seems to be heading the same direction quickly. Did I mention that Libya finds itself in the same predicament? How many times do we as a country have to repeat the same mistakes before we figure out that some of these populations require a dictator to control all the factions within the country? Are they typically brutal? Yes. Is there a better way? Apparently not. Until the people of these countries rise up and gain their own freedom, they’ll not have it. We as a country need to understand that you cannot give or enforce freedom for a people that are not willing to fight for it.

The Malaysians seem to have misplaced a very large airplane, its passengers, and cargo. After days, they now believe it to have been hijacked by someone with a vast knowledge of that airplane. We've all seen the many theories that are discussed endlessly on the news networks. The latest baffles me somewhat. Agreeing with the assumption that it was hijacked, I am stumped as to why officials think it was flown south, only to crash into the ocean. Why commit a terrorist act by hijacking the plane and then fly it into the ocean where no one will know it happened? If it was flown north it could easily have reached a Middle East destination. I would think that route would be the most scrutinized for obvious reasons. I hope the officials are correct. I shudder to think of the many ways a plane the size of a 777 could be used as a weapon in the right hands. If terrorists have indeed pulled this off, they already have the right hands to weaponize the plane.

I’ll finish with a positive note. It was reported today the Fred Phelps Sr. is on the edge of death. As founder of the Westboro Baptist Church and its endless hate campaigns, his eminent demise can only bring a smile to my face. Sadly, I also have to report the he was excommunicated by his own church last fall which leads me to believe the church’s hate campaigns will continue. It has been repeatedly stated by folks commenting that his funeral and burial receive the same type of protest that he and his church gave to our honored dead. I hope that no one stoops down to the same level as the Westboro group. It is my hope that his death does not make news anywhere. It won’t happen, the news organizations will be all over it. Wouldn't it be nice if they just refused to report it, thus giving his death and the church the amount the amount of attention they truly deserve?

Rant Over!