December 15 Is Now December 23

That is to say, that the all important deadline to get insurance on January 1 has changed to December 23. This is just a one time thing. After that, you will still need to sign up by the 15th to get coverage on the 1st of the following month during open enrollment periods. But with the difficulty of getting at the system, this change makes sense.

It is also important because the extension of HIRSP from Dec 31, 2013 to Mar 31, 2014 is being taken up by the Wisconsin Assembly in a special session that starts December 4. When I was in Madison, I visited my Assemblyman's office (Stephen Nass) and his staff person was not aware of any reason why the legislation would not pass. She sent me down to State Senator Glenn Grothman's office (not my Senator) as they apparently have a reputation of knowing what's going on and his staff people were also unable to think of any opposition to the passage of the bill. They also said that the Senate's special session had not yet been scheduled but would be early December. I emphasized one more time that this December 15 deadline was important for the people affected by this legislation.

My Application Never Reached Unity!

It has been a week since I finished my application and I still haven't heard anything. So I called Unity. The CR there explained the screen I should have gotten that would indicate that my application should have gone through. It's this one:

I told her I got that screen and that I had no luck with the button. So she gave me a phone number to call for people who have gone all the way through and then failed.

So I'm calling that now.

...

Hmmm.... I called it. They said they don't help consumers.

So, I called the 1-800-318-2596. The first operator could see my 2 applications but said her system wasn't working. So I called a second time and got an operator who could see my two applications and when he clicked on the right one just got a blank screen.

So, seems I'm back to square 1. At least HIRSP should be extended.... I might just take advantage of that.

HIRSP Extended?

The plan I'm on currently is called HIRSP. It is a plan that pools high risk people and people with pre-existing conditions in the state of Wisconsin. There were hoops to jump through to get it, but once I got it, it was a wonderful plan. But, with ObamaCare is running, there is no need for HIRSP. So HIRSP was slated for ending Dec 31, 2013.

In order to have uninterrupted coverage, it is necessary to sign up by December 15. Signing up from December 16 to December 31 will cause the new plan to start on February 1. But, the website doesn't really quite work yet. The fact that an application can get corrupted and then can't be deleted is a problem. A lot of people seem to be flailing with corrupted applications trying to make them work. HHS is not forthcoming on the workaround of using a second email address to start the application process over.

Anyway, the result was that just after President Obama had his news conference saying he would allow insurance plans to continue to offer their junkier insurance plans to people who like their junky plans, Governor Walker announced he'd call a special session and push through legislation that would extend Medicaid and HIRSP to March 31, 2014. This would give HHS 3 extra months to get the website working and give 3 extra months to current HIRSP policyholders to get a new plan.

I think the extension to 3/31 is a good thing. In fact, though I knew that HIRSP would no longer be needed on January 1, I would have put money on the end of HIRSP being April 1. This would have given HIRSP members time to move over and would spread the load of insurance switch overs over 3 months instead of one second.

I already signed up for a plan (I think), and it is a bit more expensive than HIRSP, but I'm just going to go with the new plan rather than try to switch back to HIRSP and save on 3 months of premiums. I suspect I'll get a letter in the mail soon explaining what I'll have to do to officially unenroll in HIRSP on Jan 1.

And there is only a month left before the December 15 deadline for signing up, so if this legislation falls through, people will be hurting. The Wisconsin legislature better hurry.

Signed up!...I think

It's been a while since my last post. I was planning to go to the doctor and if all was where it was supposed to be, I'd just go ahead and sign up for the plan. If things were no where they were supposed to be, I'd rethink which plan was best for me given the new circumstances. But things were good, so the next day I decided to sign up.

I logged in and made it to the Enrollment To Do screen. I clicked the green area with the word SET. And I chose my plan.

I clicked confirm. As you can see, this plan has a dental option.

I clicked SET on the Dental plan area anyway.

And this was the result. It did tell me that an adult and child dental plan are included. I don't have a child, but whatever. I'm covered. Again, I was a little confused by which button to press. It is true that I don't want a separate dental plan. But it is also true that I want to continue. And like in some previous screens, one is gray and one is green. So which button? I clicked No, I Don't Want a Separate Dental Plan even though it was gray because it seemed closer to what I want and I'm not entirely sure what Continue continues on to.

So, anyway I was returned to the Enrollment To Do.

So, the green SET area for the dental plan is still green and still says SET. Nothing there indicates that I went to the dental page and told it I'm done picking dental plans. Oh well. Let's Review and Confirm by clicking the in the last green area with the word SET.

Looking good. Just have to confirm...

Yay!!! I'm enrolled! It says on the left under "Your Plans" "For and Mark" after all. Now I just have to pay my first month's premium. So I click Pay For Health Plan.

And I click Pay For Health Plan again.

And I click Pay For Health Plan again.

And I click Pay For Health Plan again.

OK, I guess, I'm not going to pay for it today. I'll check my email to see if they have a link. But no email.

That was November 8. Today is November 15. And I still haven't received an email. 

I Got A Cancellation Letter

I got a cancellation letter. I got it a month ago. So I guess that makes me one of the millions who got the cancellation letter for a plan they were satisfied with.

The thing is, I have Federal HIRSP. HIRSP is a high risk insurance pooling plan that was designed to bridge people with pre-existing conditions until they could get insurance off the exchanges. You may recall mention of these plans because the money ran out and they stopped taking new applicants last spring. The GOP passed a bill to fund the plans using another PPACA fund for preventative medicine. That issue was never resolved, I believe, and so anyone needing HIRSP from last spring to Dec 31 have few options.

Anyway, HIRSP will end on Dec 31, 2013. I was aware that it would not last forever. So the cancellation letter was not at all surprising or disturbing. I'm sure there others in the same situation as me--they got a cancellation letter and they weren't surprised or disturbed. And it's not like we won't miss HIRSP. HIRSP was excellent insurance, especially for someone in their early 40's when the premiums are still low even though it's a high risk group.

However, as good as HIRSP was, it was also Wisconsin insurance. That means, I can't just pick up and leave for another state with more and better jobs in my area of embedded systems engineering. I am now tied to the medical system and I need to be able to buy insurance. One of the requirements of HIRSP and programs like it is that you have to have been uninsured for 6 months, so switching states without a job already lined up is very difficult and/or risky. So, while I'll miss HIRSP, I'm happy that I can move to a state and get coverage in as little as 2 weeks.

Ready to Enroll

This morning I met with my doctor. My blood counts are where I want them to be. So that means, I'm probably at a good point to start the enrollment process. I asked him if I would need to get a Unity UW Health PCP to do a second referral to continue the care I'm already receiving in the UW Health network. He didn't know. I wasn't surprised since nobody on the medical side knows anything about the business side. And it's really impossible for them to know since the payment system seems even more complicated than treating cancer.

So, I used the Unity online chat and asked. They said that I can continue without another referral from an in-network PCP for the care I'm receiving at UW Health when I join the Unity UW Health plan. A Karen came on and in 2 minutes I had my answer: it would be no problem. I should seamlessly switch over.

So tomorrow, I will enroll.