I signed up for ObamaCare on November 12 without any subsidies (I earn too much and I'm fine with the extra costs). My total cost will be $695 a month for a gold plan. Previously, my cost was $611 per month for worse insurance.
After signing up on healthcare.gov, I was told that I would need to wait for my insurer to contact me to make my first payment. I was also told that I would NOT have insurance if the payment was not processed by January 1.
Waiting...waiting...waiting...nothing from Blue Cross.
Now, my current crappy insurance is also through Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Recently they sent me a letter telling me that I could keep my existing plan, but of course I don't want to. I have called them multiple times, trying to get them to accept payment for my ObamaCare plan. They keep telling me that I will get a bill, and that they cannot accept payment for the ObamaCare plan now because they are backlogged. They also told me that when I do receive a bill, the only acceptable form of payment is a check (slow!).
Now here we are on December 18, more than a month after signing up on healthcare.gov, without a bill or anything. I really have to wonder if I will have insurance at all. Even if I receive a bill tomorrow and send them a check back the same day, there is no guarantee they will process it by January 1.
Here's my cynical theory: Insurers don't want to sign you up for ObamaCare. They will drag this thing out until you are left with two choices: accept your old plan or go without insurance. That's what this fake "I want to keep my old plan" hysteria was all about. The insurers created a fake uproar to try and encourage people to stick with the status quo. Obama should have never backtracked; he should have forced people to accept the new plans. Now insurers are playing games with existing customers.
EDIT: Today I received a bill in the mail from Blue Cross/Blue Shield to renew my existing plan. Ridiculous! I filed a complaint with Sandy Praeger's office.
