Obamacare: a Personal Story
Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future. - John F. Kennedy
I got health insurance for the first time in 8 years as of January 1 of this year. I, like a lot of older Americans, have a pre-existing condition with a diabetes type 2 diagnosis and couldn’t afford health insurance in a high risk pool at my age. I was unemployed for two and a half years and insurance through my current employer would have eaten up half of my monthly paycheck.
Between my social security benefits and my current paycheck, I am now insured. I signed up though the federal health care exchange for an HMO. Waiting for 2 weeks before the December 23rd deadline helped, and the process was pretty painless. Although the signup failures get highlighted, the successes seem to get lost in the process. I got a policy without any subsidies, so I am on a very typical private insurance plan and pay $560 a month.
The problems with signing up for insurance have been well documented and publicized. I knew what to expect when and was told when it would be corrected. Not so, once I received coverage from a very prominent private insurer. That’s when the confusion and my uneasiness started.
Getting answers from my insurance company is nothing short of a nightmare. Any attempt to call them results in a wait of at least an hour, if I don’t get disconnected. I have an online account with them with a facility to get my questions answered via a contact Email form. I have put in queries for things like payment methods and clarification of primary care physician options. These queries have been stuck in limbo for 2 weeks. One query got a response and said only that it would be referred to the proper department.
After I paid for my coverage (It took a week for the payment to be posted), it took another 2 weeks to receive my insurance coverage card. I am still unable to get answers to my insurance questions. Apparently, there aren’t any competent “navigators” in the private insurance sector. This is their business handling a very costly product. They had years to anticipate a heavy load in their only area of expertise.
For all the public outrage about government shortcomings, I am massively unimpressed with the operation of the private industry sector regarding health care. It appears that this extremely well-known insurance company is more interested in insulating themselves against their subscribers than they are about providing service to their customers.