Now Thursday morning, I realized that since my wife now had what was considered "affordable care" (insert eye roll here) we needed to change the information on our application and hope for some miracle that we still would qualify for some aid. After a few moments I realized I could not do that on the site so I had to call the ACA people and get a little help. So I sat down with a cup of coffee, a magazine and settled in for a long wait as I dialed the number....... answered in under one minute.....really awesome actually. After explaining I need to change my application they told me I would need a return call by a specialist to do that. Great, we set best time to call, then I decided to ask them if they thought I could get coverage on the marketplace due to my insurance being so crappy. After giving them all my income and other relevant information the answer was no, since my wife's plan offered her a single person plan that covered her alone that was under the 9.5% affordability threshold (more on this later) we could not get tax credits or help on paying for our insurance on the marketplace. We could shop there but have to pay full price and we not eligible for the nearly $700 tax credit/subsidy that we were originally offered since her employer offered "affordable" insurance. I thought this cannot be right so after hanging up I called again.... again less than one minute wait...amazing... and asked the same question. This time the lady said she didn't know and after quoting several things listed in the website that really didn't answer my question went and asked a manager. She then came back and said yes that my wife could still use her company insurance for her personally and our son and I could shop the marketplace and get full benefit from the tax credits there. I thought great! After hanging up I wondered if I then could just start a brand new application and not have to wait for the specialist to call me. So I called back to do that, after explaining to the person what I was trying to do, they also went to ask a supervisor how to set that up, if just my son and I could be on the application or if we all three had to be on it and just set up different "groups". After talking to her supervisor she told me that since my wife's company offers her single coverage under 9.5% of her total income (never mind she has a family who no other options for insurance other than purchasing it outright)so under the ACA her plan is considered "affordable" and that my son and I cannot get any credit in the exchange, we are free to shop there but get no help.
After I stopped chewing on a bag of nails (I think the new plan's dental tosses severe tooth damage over to the medical side), I thought OK conflicting answers here. Let me just say the people I talked to were kind, wanted to help and when they didn't know something they went and tried to find the answer. I can't ask more than that for the individuals, its just sad they have not been properly trained in the nuts and bolts of the process. I did receive an email address to ask my questions and someone in authority would respond and I would have my hands on accurate information. Great, a bit more time but hey at least I will get an answer right?
Not being one to just sit by and wait I also fired off an email to the Kaiser Institute... uber smart guys who have been studying this from the start, a "blue" blogger, (I chose blue since I figured someone who is drinking the healthcare cool-aid would be more apt to help than someone who feels it is the spawn of the devil.) We are now finally up to date on my journey, I decided to blog my steps hoping that if I can figure out how this all works and apply it to me then another family in the same situation would be helped as well. I will be continuing to chronicle my journey as well as studying the Act in detail and hopefully being able to explain it and provide more than just the standard quotes and explanations that are present on the web to date. Oh and by the way to point of this submission I have received no response to any of my email requests........or a return call from the ACA specialist.......
After I stopped chewing on a bag of nails (I think the new plan's dental tosses severe tooth damage over to the medical side), I thought OK conflicting answers here. Let me just say the people I talked to were kind, wanted to help and when they didn't know something they went and tried to find the answer. I can't ask more than that for the individuals, its just sad they have not been properly trained in the nuts and bolts of the process. I did receive an email address to ask my questions and someone in authority would respond and I would have my hands on accurate information. Great, a bit more time but hey at least I will get an answer right?
Not being one to just sit by and wait I also fired off an email to the Kaiser Institute... uber smart guys who have been studying this from the start, a "blue" blogger, (I chose blue since I figured someone who is drinking the healthcare cool-aid would be more apt to help than someone who feels it is the spawn of the devil.) We are now finally up to date on my journey, I decided to blog my steps hoping that if I can figure out how this all works and apply it to me then another family in the same situation would be helped as well. I will be continuing to chronicle my journey as well as studying the Act in detail and hopefully being able to explain it and provide more than just the standard quotes and explanations that are present on the web to date. Oh and by the way to point of this submission I have received no response to any of my email requests........or a return call from the ACA specialist.......
0 comments:
Post a Comment