A journal of my experience after I enrolled in a plan on Healthcare.gov. I wonder when the "liberal" media is going to start slamming the insurance companies for their bungled process. ("Please continue to hold")
Tuesday, Dec 3
Last Tuesday, I cleared the last hurdle, and enrolled in a plan!!! Or so I thought. Then I clicked on the "Pay first premium" (or words to that effect) button, and was transferred to a Blue Cross Blue Shield web site, where I proceeded to enter some financial information so as to get the premium paid.
The transaction failed. No indication why, it just said "error", and something to the effect that it couldn't process it. I submitted it again. Same result. On the third resubmit, it brought up a new page, with all the info I'd entered discarded, and the same error text.
Wednesday, Dec 4
The next day, I tried to call Blue Cross. That was an ordeal in itself. If you're not a member or a provider, you're a non-person. I tried different things, but got nowhere.
Thursday, Dec 5
Same thing on Thursday; I couldn't sit around all day waiting for someone to pick up.
Friday, Dec 6
Friday I got hold of someone, who said it wasn't processed yet, so I should call back Monday. And she gave me a different, "direct" number to call. Progress, right? A direct number!
Monday, Dec 9
So I called back Monday. After a message indicating they were very busy, here is what I was subjected to:
Please continue to hold ...(4 second pause)... Please continue to hold....Please continue to hold....Please continue to hold...(3 second pause)..Please continue to hold...(3 second pause)..Please continue to hold...(2 second pause)..Please continue to hold..Please continue to hold.Please conPlease continue to hold.Please continue to hold.Please conPlease continue to hold....
It was driving me crazy. I hung up and called back later. Same thing. So I went to the Blue Cross web site and sent an email describing the situation.
Tuesday, Dec 10
I called and it immediately went to Muzak. I waited for a while, then hung up. I called back twice. Both times, I got a busy signal.
Wednesday, Dec 11
I decided that, if I couldn't get hold of anyone, I was going to go in to Blue Cross and talk to a human being, face to face. I called, and got busy signals. Time to visit Blue Cross, right? I live about half a mile from the state headquarters, so that should be easy. Should. Turns out that the closest place I could go to talk to someone was all the way across town. I was going near there anyway, so I stopped by on my way back from other business. I was immediately sent in to talk to someone. Who proceeded to tell me that they didn't deal with those plans, it was done by a different group. He'd be happy to give me their number, or even call them from his phone. It was the same number I'd been calling since Monday. He did go ahead and call, and we got the Muzak. I said I'd call from home.
Stop and think about that a moment. The near-monopoly insurance company won't even take my money unless I go through their special phone number, which is a dead end.
Thursday, Dec 12
I took my phone, which I just recently switched to a plan with unlimited talk, and a Bluetooth headset I bought a while ago, and called the number. I stuck my phone in a pocket and proceeded to do some chores. I initiated the phone call at 9:24 AM. For more than an hour, I listened to the music from the song with the lyrics "I'll NEver pick up the phone, oh no, ne-ever". 62 minutes later, I hear "bideloop", and ... the call was cut off.
I initiated the next call at 10:48. 45 minutes later, I'm still waiting.
I don't know whether to feel like the character in The Trial, or like Spiderman after ripping loose the power cables from Doc Ock's device, only to see no change. What now?
Ain't free enterprise great? How wonderful to be dealing with a corporation instead of the gubmint. (Painful snark).
BTW, the change on Healthcare.gov that saved me was the addition of an option to discard your current application and start over. Without that, I was stuck with selecting plans that didn't include my wife, despite her inclusion in everything I'd done. When I took the plunge and trashed the application, I completed it in no time. Also, good things seem to come in threes. That change happened the same day (or at least, I noticed it the same day) that I got a call telling me that, if I had submitted an application over the phone, I could call the main number and work it out. I suspect it would have been the same as the web site; dump the previous attempt and start over. The third item was that I had made an appointment to meet with a unicorn navigator the following day, which I was able to cancel.
I would never have believed I would be bumping against the deadline at this late date. Totally out of character for me, I did not procrastinate on this.