12 Facts About The Obamacare Launch Train Wreck Every American Should Know

The following are 12 facts about the Obamacare launch train wreck that everyone should know:

#1 According to a survey that was just released, approximately 90 percent of the people that have tried to enroll for Obamacare say that they were not able to get signed up.
#2 And many of those that believe that they did get “signed up” are not actually enrolled in a health insurance plan.  In fact, health insurance executives say that only about 1 out of every 100 applications being submitted on the Obamacare health insurance exchanges contain enough information to get an applicant successfully enrolled in a health insurance plan.
#3 The Iowa Obamacare exchange has enrolled a grand total of five people in Obamacare at this point.
#4 The Hawaii Obamacare exchange was so bad that the entire site has been taken down and will eventually be relaunched.
#5 Early this week, the Wall Street Journal was reporting that health insurance executives were saying that only “hundreds” of Americans had successfully enrolled through the Obamacare websites so far.
#6 One online database programmer had the following to say about the Healthcare.gov website: “It wasn’t designed well, it wasn’t implemented well, and it looks like nobody tested it.”
#7 The Obama administration received numerous warnings that the launch of the health insurance exchanges was going to be a major disaster…

Major insurers, state health-care officials and Democratic allies repeatedly warned the Obama administration in recent months that the new federal health-insurance exchange had significant problems, according to people familiar with the conversations. Despite those warnings and intense criticism from Republicans, the White House proceeded with an Oct. 1 launch.

#8 According to one estimate, it cost more than 93 million dollars to build Healthcare.gov.
#9 When you create an account on Heathcare.gov, you are handing over a whole host of personal information to the federal government which may end up being used for a vast array of different purposes.
#10 According to Politico, there is no way to delete an account once you have created one on Healthcare.gov…

Once you finally make it into HealthCare.gov, it’s not clear how you get out.
For those who’ve busted through glitches on the federal Obamacare insurance website to create an account, there’s no clear, obvious way for consumers to delete the accounts if they choose — at least not in the current incarnation.

#11 One expert believes that it could take up to two years before the technical glitches are ironed out of Obamacare…

“I think it could easily take up to two years before all these things are working working smoothly,” said Lisa Carroll, president of the Mosaic Insurance Exchange and the Small Businesses Service Bureau in Massachusetts. “This is just an ecommerce project of epic proportion,” said Carroll.
Carroll said the complicated task of getting all facets of the federal health insurance market to interact with each other correctly is made more complicated by rule changes and clarifications that have to be accounted for by software.

#12 The system is so bad that even CNN’s Wolf Blitzer is saying that the individual mandate should be delayed for a year.

ObamaCare Exchanges: 7 Things You Need To Know

Here it comes, ready or not, enrollment in the ObamaCare Affordable Healthcare Exchanges has begun as of October 1.  You are required to sign up for a plan by March 31, 2014 if you don't get your insurance from your employer, Medicare, or Medicaid. 

How will I buy insurance through an exchange?

Each state, and the District of Columbia, will have a health insurance exchange online. Individual consumers will be able to go online and compare various insurance policies, pick a plan, and enroll.

Some states, like New York and California, will run their own exchanges, with insurance companies offering dozens of qualified plans, each with varying costs. Others, like Florida and Texas, will be run by the federal government. Still others, such as Illinois and Michigan, are partnering with the federal government to run their marketplaces.
 

For information on what your home state is doing, to find your exchange, and enroll if the federal government is handling the program in your state, you can log onto the federal government Website: HealthCare.gov and follow the prompts

What happens if you don't enroll in a health plan by the deadline ?

You will be required to pay a tax penalty next year to the IRS:

$95 per individual (or 1 percent of your income, whichever is greater), $285 per family.
 
$325 per individual (or 2 percent of income), $975 per family in 2015.

$695 per individual (or 2.5 percent of income) and $2,085 per family in 2016 and beyond.

After March 31, you can only apply for insurance if you experience a major life change, such as job loss, divorce, or birth in your family. The next open enrollment period (for 2015) will begin Oct. 15, 2014.

What if I don't have a computer? 
Toll-free call centers will be available, with trained experts, to detail your options and enroll you in health coverage.
 

For information, call 1-800-319-2596. The line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

 

 

How can I find out if I qualify for a subsidy?
About 26 million Americans may be eligible for federal tax subsidies to help defray the cost of their insurance premium. Only qualified individuals who sign up for insurance through the exchanges will be able to receive the subsidies, which take effect next year.

If you earn less than 400 percent of the poverty level — about $46,000 for an individual; $90,000 for a family of four— you may qualify for a subsidies.  In example:

• A family of four on the high end of the scale — with an annual household income of $88,200 — will pay a maximum of 9.5, which amounts to $8,379 per year for a health insurance premium, and the rest would be subsidized

• On the bottom end of the scale, a family of four with an income of $29,327 will only have to pay 2 percent of household income — or $587 per year for the same plan that will cost the higher-income family $8,379.

Low income residents in about half the states that plan to expand Medicaid under Obamacare will also qualify for free or low-cost healthcare through the federal program for the poor. Applicants earning up to 133 percent of the poverty line — just under $30,000 a year for a family of four — who log onto HealthCare.gov will be directed to Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program.

What kinds of plans will be offered?

Insurers will offer four standardized plans designated as bronze, silver, gold, platinum. Each  plan will cover 10 categories of essential benefits, set by the federal government, such as emergency service, prescription drug coverage, preventive care, and mental health treatment, each will vary in cost:

Bronze plans: Offer the lowest amount of coverage , 60 percent of medical costs on average , but  will have the lowest premiums.

Silver: 70 percent of costs are covered.

Gold: 80 percent of costs are covered.

Platinum: 90 percent of costs are covered, but these plans will have the highest premiums.

What is the application process?

 

The U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services has devised a three-page application for individuals to apply online or on paper.

You will need to provide the following information:

Name and personal facts (address, Social Security number, date of birth).

 

Health status (pregnant, physical/mental conditions).

 

Employment status and household income level (using pay stubs or W-2 forms).

Current health insurance coverage (if any).

Permission to give an authorized representative or “navigator” access to application information.

What about small business Owners?

Small businesses, those with fewer than 50 workers, will eventually be able to shop for coverage for their employees through the Small Business Health Options Program or SHOP, that is a part of the healthcare exchanges.

The SHOP exchanges pool small employers together so they bargain with insurance coverage as a group. But there are some problems with the rollout of the SHOP exchanges.

 

Federal officials announced that small businesses will not be able to enroll directly on Oct. 1, as planned, unless they work through an insurance agent. Officials expect the exchanges will be open to small businesses by Nov. 1.
 

The Obama administration recently said it is delaying the full implementation of the SHOP program. In most states where federal officials are running the exchanges or operating them in partnership with the states, small businesses will not be able to provide workers with a choice of health plans as the law intended until 2015.

 

For more information: HealthCare.gov,  or 1-800-318-2596.

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