Obamacare snag: Health insurers have no record of some enrollees

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald-AP

NDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Record-keeping snags could complicate the start of insurance coverage this month as people begin using policies they purchased under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

Insurance companies are still trying to sort out cases of so-called health insurance orphans, customers for whom the government has a record that they enrolled, but the insurer does not.

Government officials say the problem is real but under control, with orphan records being among the roughly 13,000 problem cases they are trying to resolve with insurers. But insurance companies are worried the process will grow more cumbersome as they deal with the flood of new customers who signed up in December as enrollment deadlines neared.

More than 1 million people have signed up through the federal insurance market that serves 36 states. Officials contend the error rate for new signups is close to zero.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20140109/LIVEWELL26/140108839#obamacare-snag-health-insurers-have-no-record-of-some-enrollees

[Pharaoh]

1. Leave it the insurance companys

to muck it all up, because they can't skim so much off the top now. Oh yeah, they will try to wreck it.

[leftyohiolib]

2. deliberate

[DallasNE]

3. These People Paid For Insurance

So there should be a record of that payment and where the money ended up so these should be very easy to clear up.

[SoapBox]

4. If the government has a record...

Then let them have the insurance. Ya know...it's like a postmark!

I'm SO sick and tired of the bullshit that companies (and in this case it's insurance) try and pull.

[mbperrin]

5. 13,000 out of a million is nearly zero error.

It's like 99.987% accurate.

Wish everything was that close to perfect.

[truthisfreedom]

6. When almost everything is going smoothly, it's easy to see aberrations.

Like lumps in batter.

[FBaggins]

8. Your math is off

That's a 1.3% error.

[mbperrin]

10. Oh, so only 98.7% accurate?

Well, I guess I won't kill myself.

Again, I wish everything in life was 98.7% accurate!

[lostincalifornia]

9. The media goes out of there way to report or say something negative about the ACA on a daily basis.

The problem is that they also go out of there way to insure they do not report any positive or good news about the ACA, or if they do, they minimize it as much as they can

[tofuandbeer]

7. Arrrgh! Their is no limit to greed.

[underpants]

11. I read: Insurance companies failed on the (their) rollout

[Sunlei]

12. I couldn't pay online on ACA site and got a paper billing from Humana last week.

I registered 12/19, picked a plan and requested a bill be mailed. The 'pay now' button didn't do anything when I clicked it. Took less than 10 mins.

I got this email 12/29-

"You’ve picked a plan and enrolled at HealthCare.gov, but you still need to make sure you have completed a few important steps with your health insurance plan.

If you haven’t done so already, finish these steps today:

1.Pay your first month's premium to your plan directly – not to the Marketplace. Many insurance companies have extended the payment deadline to January 10, 2014. Some may require you to pay by December 31, 2013. Check with your insurance company to find out when your first premium is due.
2.Carefully review your member card or other materials your plan sends to you.
3.Review your plan’s provider directory for 2014 and decide who will provide your care.
4.Contact your plan with any questions or if you don’t receive a member card."


I forgot what plan I picked and didn't feel like checking. A paper bill arrived from Humana a couple days ago. Said I had until 1/31 to pay and also I'd be billed for 2 months in a Feb invoice if I didn't pay by Feb.

I guess I'm one of those insurance "Orphans" but my check is in the mail.

Besides the bill from Humana reflected my small payment due and Federal gov. much larger payment to the insurance corp. Also said I am covered from 1/1/2014.

Where is my card insurance company, no card, no info..nothing except a bill? I guess the insurance corp doesn't get their massive federal money until the Orphans pay up

It's the insurance corps who withhold cards and information packets until the people pay..and they call them orphans and blame the website.