Sign up for Affordable Health Care NOW!
Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 8:00 am
Okay I think the jury is back in.
It takes about half an hour to sign up for Affordable Health Care if you use the 800 number.
1-800-318-2596
Given the fact that the deadline is March 31st, you can spend awhile on hold, but once you get through they know what they're doing. I should probably say that again:
They know what they're doing.
I found out that the phone number was the way to go by reading this very detailed article in the Lakewood Observer: "My Experience With The Affordable Care Act" by Eric Deamer
http://lakewoodobserver.com/read/2014/0 ... e-care-act
It took Mr. Deamer a LONG time to get signed up, but in the end he was happy. The one thing he stressed over and over was USE THE PHONE NUMBER, NOT THE WEBSITE.
I edited this story for the paper and appreciated hearing about the odyssey Eric Deamer and his family experienced-- it seemed like it took a crazy long time, and yet, he is very pleased with the healthcare he now has.
Because I read this, I was able to tell all of my reluctant friends... USE THE PHONE NUMBER.
One by one, people I know who were hesitant to do this, have taken the plunge, and each of them has had a good experience! Mr. Deamer signed up last year; it is a lot more streamlined now.
The online site can be glitchy and slow though it is VERY CLEAR. You need to know what your expected monthly income is for 2014. You also need to know this when you get on the phone. If you're intending to pay taxes this year, you're probably putting those numbers together right about now.
You can sign up, check out the health care market place, pick a provider and be done.
You can also decide not to pick a provider at all if you don't like how much it turns out to be.
The point here is that you will be fined if you don't have health care and you don't sign up. You can figure out from the site how much you will be fined. It's one percent of your income, or something like $250.00 per adult, $50 per kid, whichever is higher? (Can't remember, but these numbers are close.)
Another point is that you won't really know if you want to do this until you go through it and see how much it's going to be for your family.
It's even worth it to sign up if you already have health care, to see what offers you can find in the market place. Like the endless commercials say, you can actually end up paying less money for more coverage. At the very least you can get a useful education in how much these different providers are charging, and for what, and compare your own provider.
My paranoid friends who didn't want to sign up because they didn't want the government to know if they decided not to choose to have Obamacare have found out that if you pay taxes, they already know all about you! You put your name in and your information comes right out! It's the government. There they are with all your info. (Like the year of the car you last bought, and the cell phone number you had before the one you have now. Creepy. But they're not asking you for this. They're telling you.)
Anyway, I had to come on and say that overall, I keep hearing about positive experiences, though the lines on the phone are long right now.
If you haven't done it, do it. Pick a weird time like 3AM and you'll probably be done in 15 minutes. After March 31st you're going to get fined, AND you can't use or get Affordable Health Care until the next sign-up period, which is this Fall, for 2015.
Thank you Lakewood Observer writer, Eric Deamer, for changing the lives of more than a couple people who just wouldn't have picked up the phone without you.
Betsy Voinovich
It takes about half an hour to sign up for Affordable Health Care if you use the 800 number.
1-800-318-2596
Given the fact that the deadline is March 31st, you can spend awhile on hold, but once you get through they know what they're doing. I should probably say that again:
They know what they're doing.
I found out that the phone number was the way to go by reading this very detailed article in the Lakewood Observer: "My Experience With The Affordable Care Act" by Eric Deamer
http://lakewoodobserver.com/read/2014/0 ... e-care-act
It took Mr. Deamer a LONG time to get signed up, but in the end he was happy. The one thing he stressed over and over was USE THE PHONE NUMBER, NOT THE WEBSITE.
I edited this story for the paper and appreciated hearing about the odyssey Eric Deamer and his family experienced-- it seemed like it took a crazy long time, and yet, he is very pleased with the healthcare he now has.
Because I read this, I was able to tell all of my reluctant friends... USE THE PHONE NUMBER.
One by one, people I know who were hesitant to do this, have taken the plunge, and each of them has had a good experience! Mr. Deamer signed up last year; it is a lot more streamlined now.
The online site can be glitchy and slow though it is VERY CLEAR. You need to know what your expected monthly income is for 2014. You also need to know this when you get on the phone. If you're intending to pay taxes this year, you're probably putting those numbers together right about now.
You can sign up, check out the health care market place, pick a provider and be done.
You can also decide not to pick a provider at all if you don't like how much it turns out to be.
The point here is that you will be fined if you don't have health care and you don't sign up. You can figure out from the site how much you will be fined. It's one percent of your income, or something like $250.00 per adult, $50 per kid, whichever is higher? (Can't remember, but these numbers are close.)
Another point is that you won't really know if you want to do this until you go through it and see how much it's going to be for your family.
It's even worth it to sign up if you already have health care, to see what offers you can find in the market place. Like the endless commercials say, you can actually end up paying less money for more coverage. At the very least you can get a useful education in how much these different providers are charging, and for what, and compare your own provider.
My paranoid friends who didn't want to sign up because they didn't want the government to know if they decided not to choose to have Obamacare have found out that if you pay taxes, they already know all about you! You put your name in and your information comes right out! It's the government. There they are with all your info. (Like the year of the car you last bought, and the cell phone number you had before the one you have now. Creepy. But they're not asking you for this. They're telling you.)
Anyway, I had to come on and say that overall, I keep hearing about positive experiences, though the lines on the phone are long right now.
If you haven't done it, do it. Pick a weird time like 3AM and you'll probably be done in 15 minutes. After March 31st you're going to get fined, AND you can't use or get Affordable Health Care until the next sign-up period, which is this Fall, for 2015.
Thank you Lakewood Observer writer, Eric Deamer, for changing the lives of more than a couple people who just wouldn't have picked up the phone without you.
Betsy Voinovich