I have been noting, here and elsewhere, conversations around the difficulties of some phase of signing up for Obamacare from identifying providers to filling out paperwork to “clinching the deal” by submitting payments People have been stalled at various stages of the process and time is growing short, even with the new extension. I would therefore like to recommend the following steps for many who are experiencing such problems – find out who your providers are through “eHealthinsurance” (or similar site) and then either sign up through that site, or going directly to the providers they list and sign up through them.
A caveat or two – this may not work for everyone; I tried it for 10 states (trying to hit one in a variety of geographic regions and “political climates”) and one of them (Vermont) wasn’t available this way. Also, I did not follow through from A to Z in states other than my own (Washington) and did not request a subsidy. So even though it was smooth to work directly through insurers – their web site info is abundant, and the phone numbers quickly responded with helpful salespeople - I can’t guarantee that for all. However, some here may find it helpful.
Here are the states in which I played “secret shopper” - Alabama, California, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Texas, Vermont and of course my home state of Washington. As I mentioned earlier, only Vermont’s plans were not viewable at the eHealthinsurance site. But given the ready visibility in 9 other states, including “refuseniks” like Alabama and Texas, my guess is that it will work for many more.
The “bottom line” is that I believe many, if not all, people who are having technical problems at various stages might be able to work around them by starting with a site like eHealthinsurance and letting the actual insurance companies do their capitalist thing of trying to help you buy their ACA-compliant insurance.