Cover Oregon - I'm almost there. Don't give up hope. (Portland: 2014, insurance)

[sayulita]

Please don't start a political debate about The Affordable Care Act. I'm just here to post my experience in case anyone else out there is getting frustrated with the process.

So yeah, I know what a fiasco Cover Oregon has been as I've been following it very closely because I will need the coverage come Jan.1. My old insurance is going away on Dec. 31st. So here's what I did.

Filled out the application online, printed it out and mailed it in.

After a couple calls from them asking the same question both times, which was frustrating, I finally got a packet in the mail informing me of my eligibility and the subsidy I'm getting (it's not much as I am on the upper end of the income scale).

The packet contained an enrollment form asking me to go to Cover Oregon and choose a plan. The website was still glitchy even as late as early this week, but I did manage to pull up the plans from my preferred insurance company. I called the insurance co. directly to get some clarification on the several plans they had. A very nice man walked me through them and helped me choose one. I filled out that plan on the enrollment form, answered a couple more questions on it and drove it to the Post Office.

I expect to receive confirmation in the next couple weeks that I've been successfully enrolled in my chosen plan.

The really good news is that I'm saving about $300 a month compared to my current plan.

So there is hope. Just persevere, be persistent and eventually you'll get coverage.

[PNW-type-gal]

We knew we weren't eligible for subsidies so we were able to just go directly to the company offering a "silver" plan under the Oregon exchange. Saved us around $350 a month, but more importantly, it is FAR better insurance. This year we had around $35,000 in medical expenses (an expensive cornea surgery for me + a broken ankle) and they covered around $10,000 - on top of nearly $15,000 in premiums.

Now to find someone who will actually accept the insurance - since we recently moved and didn't have a local doctor yet anyway, I called around based on the list from the insurer. Several places which were supposed to be accepting new patients aren't and one of the larger clinic-types said that they would not accept "individual" policies from the OHP. Only commercial (ie: employer-based) policies.

[sayulita]

My new plan is better as well. $3000 deductible vs. $5000. Out of pocket is higher - $6000 vs. $5000. But unless something major happens next year, I'll still be way ahead with the $3600 savings in the premiums.

[sayulita]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

We knew we weren't eligible for subsidies so we were able to just go directly to the company offering a "silver" plan under the Oregon exchange. Saved us around $350 a month, but more importantly, it is FAR better insurance. This year we had around $35,000 in medical expenses (an expensive cornea surgery for me + a broken ankle) and they covered around $10,000 - on top of nearly $15,000 in premiums.

Now to find someone who will actually accept the insurance - since we recently moved and didn't have a local doctor yet anyway, I called around based on the list from the insurer. Several places which were supposed to be accepting new patients aren't and one of the larger clinic-types said that they would not accept "individual" policies from the OHP. Only commercial (ie: employer-based) policies.

Just sent you a PM regarding a clinic in Portland that accepts OHP, but then I noticed you are in southern Oregon. Good luck anyway.

[FVWinters]

So what we did was go to the county health department and got someone to go the paperwork for us. She sent in the application and will do any follow-ups necessary. We expect to hear of our eligibility before the 15th of December.

[sayulita]

Originally Posted by FVWinters

So what we did was go to the county health department and got someone to go the paperwork for us. She sent in the application and will do any follow-ups necessary. We expect to hear of our eligibility before the 15th of December.

Excellent! It would have been nice to do it all online, but I'm OK with doing the paperwork if that's what it takes to get enrolled. It just takes a little more effort and the use of snail mail. The folks I spoke to at Cover Oregon were incredibly kind, helpful and apologetic about the website. They are working very hard to accommodate everyone and are working 24/7 to make it work for everyone. Please don't abuse them or make their work any harder. They really do want to help.

There are plenty of folks out there who need this so please pass along this info and help them when you can.
It CAN be done.

[Minervah]

Thank you for posting this. I was working in insurance BC, before computers. When medicare was implemented it was done by snail mail and people walking into government offices and signing up. None of the fiasco we are seeing today. Ironically, I signed up for my Medicare in person a few years ago because I had trouble with my computer at the time and Regence BC just told me to come on down and we could do the paperwork there which we did.

So now we are depending upon technology that isn't working for Cover Oregon but Sayulita has shown us there are other ways.

Good luck everyone.

[JXBC]

I'm not taking this politically; however, you may very well be the first person who has actually enrolled in Cover Oregon.

As of 6 days ago, no one had enrolled throughout the entire state.

[sayulita]

To be clear, I do not as yet have an insurance card in hand and an address to send the premium. I will update here when/if that happens. I've been assured that hundreds of people are working around the clock to process paper applications.

My fallback position is to buy directly from the insurance company and get the subsidy when I file my 2014 taxes.

Either way, I expect to be enrolled by Dec. 15 and have full coverage starting Jan. 1st.

[willy_mays]

http://www.oregonlive.com/finance/in...l#incart_river

Live oregonlive chat about signing up. Starts Wednesday at noon.

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