Tell HN: My first hand experience with Healthcare.gov (a.k.a Obamacare)
I looked at healthecare.gov just to get an idea. Got a plan that has cheaper premium than COBRA even though the benefits are not exactly the same. So I decide to "submit an application".
The worst decision ever. Guess what, if you don't get the subsidy because "you are too rich according to the govt", you are better off buying it directly from the insurance company. They offer same plan/same price but no middleman.
Anyway, too late for me since I have already submitted the application via Marketplace. So now I wait for a couple of days before calling Insurance company to confirm.
For background, I submitted this application on March 11th,2014 which means that my coverage should be active April 1st,2014 (according to healthcare.gov rules [0]). But guess what, the insurance company tells me that my coverage has been activated effective Feb 14,2014. So now I owe them for Feb and March while I am double paying COBRA premium as well.
Big software glitch on their part OR a badly designed logic of some sort.
Fellow HN'ers, if you are not qualifying for the subsidy (most of us don't anyway), please refrain from using healthcare.gov and go directly to the insurance company. There is no law that you have to buy using the exchange. I didn't know that and was too stupid. Now I am paying the price.
So I have been on the phone with healthcare.gov for 45 mins and they are trying to "correct" it using their IT systems. God knows whats next. I wanted to share this not just to rant but to warn anyone in my situation.
[0]: https://www.healthcare.gov/what-key-dates-do-i-need-to-know/#part=2