[su_dropcap style=”flat”]W[/su_dropcap]ELL THE Affordable Care Act is back in the news with all the rhetoric coming out of the political debates, and the recent jump in insurance costs for many that are on ACA insurance. So, it seems timely to take stock once again of what this ACA is and is not.
I’m not the first person to tie these facts together of course, but even so, they tell a story. The basics of the law are that:
• Every citizen must prove they are insured or pay a new tax called a fine;
• However, not everyone must prove they are a citizen;
• Anyone refusing to, or unable to, prove they are a citizen receives free insurance;
• That insurance is paid for by those that are citizens and have been forced to buy insurance.
Now the stupidity of that ranks as a close second to believing that criminals will submit to background checks to buy guns, and will obey all gun control laws.
Who thinks up these stupid things? Is it the people we elect or the bureaucrats they hire?
Please let me offer my perspective – since I have been an unemployed/self-employed ACA victim. I don’t mind that everyone needs to be insured. I really don’t. I know that uninsured presents its own catalog of issues – all of them expensive. Enough said about that.
Clearly, this is just my own experience so if you who are taking the time to read this have had better conditions be thankful and know that I am thankful with you. Last year 2014 it took them 3 tries to get my 1095A correctly printed and sent to me. But I’m a forgiving person so let’s go on. this year 2015 I am still waiting for HCdotGOV to send me a 1095A that shows I had insurance for the months of January thru June. I paid $635 per month all year long but they show that I didn’t even have insurance until June and then for only a partial month. Tell that to my bleeding bank account. I have invested at least 12 hours of my time, most of it listening to music on hold and their repetitive recorded apologies that I’ve been on hold for so long – but, by the way, did you know that they have a website I could visit and try to resolve my issues? Puh-leezze! Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.
My issues with ACA started in 2014 but just this year alone I had calls from them roughly every two weeks that I had not supplied sufficient information to them. I called them. I was polite. I sent them my bank statements. I sent them back tax returns. I sent them logs where I keep track of every single cent I have earned. I have sent them pay pal statements. I then sent them current tax statements when my taxes were processed. Still the calls continued. At this point if it sounds like harassment, thank you. That’s how it felt to me too. I finally, late in the year when discussing the policy for the coming year mentioned the overwhelming number of calls and the supervisor said, “Oh! Well those are courtesy calls for your benefit but I can put you on the do not call list.” Ya think? Yes please. The calls stopped but then I got letters. Right now the only letters I want are Dear John letters.
But it doesn’t end there. I became eligible for Medicare on February 1st this year. I was told I had to call ACA on January 16th to cancel my policy. I asked if I could do it online. No! You must call and you must call on that date. OK – So I called on the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th – and after being on hold for 45+ minutes each time I decided to sit out a couple days and try again. So I did and waited on hold one hour and fifteen minutes. Finally when I got ahold of someone, they said my policy would take 14 days to cancel so I would have to pay my premium for 7 days into February. Isn’t it illegal to have two active health insurance policies? Even if it isn’t – 7 days of a policy – well I got billed from Priority Health for $137. NOTHING can be done. That’s the way it works. However, there is a magic act that ACA can perform and it might work. They might be able to get my policy cancelled back to January 31. But it will be an mighty Herculean act to do it. I am still waiting, by the way.
Now back to the 1095A that is still incorrect. They have escalated my case and if they needed more information, they would call me. So yes, they have called me twice. Once when I was driving and I do not talk on my phone while driving. And once while I was in church. It would be very awkward in the middle of a sermon to be talking about my errant 1095A. Or am I not thinking with the mindset of a a 21st century citizen? Also – now that my ‘case’ has moved to escalation I may not call them about it. I must wait for them to call me.
I was told by HCdotGOV that my problem cancelled policy may never be resolved. It depends on – well, I’m not sure what it depends on.
I was told by HCdotGOV that my problem 1095A will be fixed eventually, but maybe not in time do file my tax return on time. Of course now, since they have called twice I wasn’t available, I wonder who looks like the bad guy.
Ken, I’m sure you never expected a comment like this one – but thank you for opening the door so I could get that elephant off my chest. I have not told anyone about this nightmare until now. I don’t like to be the negative one – but today – I am just frustrated enough to fire up my attitude and share.
I have to compare your experience with one I had with the IRS some years ago. When I told people about it their common response was “well some day you will look back and laugh about it”. So, Jane, someday maybe you can look back and laugh at this nightmare of government bureaucratic waste land.
Of course no company could survive providing such horrid service. Thanks for sharing your experience. Believe it or not yours isn’t the worst I’ve heard about.