First , some mockery......
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/10/25/breaking-healthcare-gov-czar-promises-site-will-work-right-by-end-of-november/comment-page-1/
and.....
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/10/tips-on-navigating-obamacare-costs-on.html
No Plan Descriptions
Each of those plan names should be a link to a description of the plan so you can see what the hell you are getting for your money. Alas, there is no link. Nor is there a link to the issuer so you can call them.
This is why you need to contact a certified In-Person Assister (IPA) to help you figure this all out.
Alternatively you can call a Certified Application Counselor (CAC), a community health center, an insurance agent or an insurance broker.
The rules say "States with partnership marketplaces must have a separate IPA program. States with state-based marketplaces can choose to have a separate IPA program. States with federally facilitated marketplaces are not permitted to have an IPA program"
Confused?
Just call your IPA except in the 34 states where you can't. Then call someone else.
Navigation Roulette
David Steinberg at PJ Media has additional comments and anecdotes about the navigation process in his post Identity Theft Russian Roulette: Healthcare.gov Refers Users to Uncertified Navigators and Assisters
I did as Steinberg did. I tried "Find Local Help" for my zipcode and found "461 results".
Results display 10 at a time. Most of the contacts require a phone call to schedule an appointment.
It seems you need a navigator to help you find a navigator. No problem.
If you "didn't find what you were looking for" then the "Contact Us" button will take you to a page where you can "Find Local Help". Alternatively, you can start a live chat.
I did not bother with any of that since I have a good plan that fortunately was not cancelled. Thus, I cannot tell you how much additional money Obamacare would have cost me personally. Others can, and the results are best described as ...
Obamashock!
Prepare to be shocked.
Reader Tim Wallace did figure out how much extra Obamacare would cost him.
Tim writes ...
Unfortunately, I am reading other similar horror stories. If you have a plan you like, I hope you get to keep it.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
Relax, everybody! Obamacare site ‘will work smoothly’ by end of November
Something tells me that the deadline for beholding the power of the fully operational ObamaCare’s going to look something like this:
and more Twitchy...
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/10/tips-on-navigating-obamacare-costs-on.html
Tips on Navigating Obamacare Costs on HealthCare.Gov - My Personal Experience - Obamashock!
You can now see cost options of various Obamacare plans whether or not you are registered.
Once on the site (click on the above link), filter your state and county.
Click on the lines as shown by the arrow, not the "i" symbol.
Don't bother with the instruction line at the top of the form that reads "For instructions on how to read and use this data, please view the documentation available under the ‘About’ tab on"
If you find and click on the "about tab", it humorously looks like this:
After you click on the "about tab", one of the first things you will see is the message "For instructions on how to read and use this data, please view the documentation available under the ‘About’ tab on this page."
Zero Stars
One person actually gave this page three stars. I wanted to give it zero stars, but that was not an option. I tried one star, but I was not registered, so my vote did not count. Out of 399,014 visits, only one person voted on the quality of the page.
There are some links on the page, but none of them were at all helpful on how to use the page.
After doing some external searches as to what some of the fields mean, I attempted to download data and it actually worked. Rather than use the site tools, I did additional filtering, sorting, and column removal in Excel.
McHenry County, Illinois Plans
I live in McHenry County, Illinois. There were 4216 plans for Illinois. There were 60 plans for McHenry County.
I stripped off the columns for State, Issuer Name, Rating Area, and Display. Here are the results for McHenry County.
Once on the site (click on the above link), filter your state and county.
Click on the lines as shown by the arrow, not the "i" symbol.
Don't bother with the instruction line at the top of the form that reads "For instructions on how to read and use this data, please view the documentation available under the ‘About’ tab on"
If you find and click on the "about tab", it humorously looks like this:
After you click on the "about tab", one of the first things you will see is the message "For instructions on how to read and use this data, please view the documentation available under the ‘About’ tab on this page."
Zero Stars
One person actually gave this page three stars. I wanted to give it zero stars, but that was not an option. I tried one star, but I was not registered, so my vote did not count. Out of 399,014 visits, only one person voted on the quality of the page.
There are some links on the page, but none of them were at all helpful on how to use the page.
After doing some external searches as to what some of the fields mean, I attempted to download data and it actually worked. Rather than use the site tools, I did additional filtering, sorting, and column removal in Excel.
McHenry County, Illinois Plans
I live in McHenry County, Illinois. There were 4216 plans for Illinois. There were 60 plans for McHenry County.
I stripped off the columns for State, Issuer Name, Rating Area, and Display. Here are the results for McHenry County.
| County | Level | Plan Marketing Name | Type | Age 27 | Age 50 | Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MC HENRY | Platinum | Humana National Preferred Platinum 1000/1500 Plan | PPO | $383.48 | $653.52 | $1295.34 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Aetna Premier 2000 PD | PPO | $358.00 | $611.00 | $1210.00 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Land of Lincoln National Premier PPO Plan | PPO | $353.63 | $602.65 | $1194.52 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Land of Lincoln National Elite PPO Plan | PPO | $342.38 | $583.48 | $1156.52 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Humana National Preferred Gold 2500/3500 Plan | PPO | $340.26 | $579.88 | $1149.38 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Blue Cross Blue Shield Premier 1, a Multi-State Plan | PPO | $339.54 | $578.65 | $1146.92 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Land of Lincoln National Complete PPO Plan | PPO | $337.28 | $574.80 | $1139.30 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Blue Cross Blue Shield Premier 2, a Multi-State Plan | PPO | $336.22 | $572.99 | $1135.72 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Land of Lincoln National Confidence PPO Plan | PPO | $333.97 | $569.14 | $1128.10 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Land of Lincoln National Premier PPO Plan | PPO | $328.32 | $559.52 | $1109.04 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Land of Lincoln National Preferred PPO Plan | PPO | $325.33 | $554.43 | $1098.94 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Blue PPO Gold 002 | PPO | $323.65 | $551.56 | $1093.22 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Aetna Classic 3500 PD | PPO | $321.00 | $547.00 | $1086.00 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Land of Lincoln National Elite PPO Plan | PPO | $318.24 | $542.34 | $1074.98 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Blue PPO Gold 001 | PPO | $313.14 | $533.65 | $1057.74 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Land of Lincoln National Complete PPO Plan | PPO | $308.33 | $525.46 | $1041.52 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Aetna Classic 5000 | PPO | $308.00 | $524.00 | $1038.00 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Humana National Preferred Silver 4250/6250 Plan | PPO | $296.60 | $505.46 | $1001.88 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Land of Lincoln National Preferred PPO Plan | PPO | $296.00 | $504.44 | $999.84 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Land of Lincoln National Choice PPO Plan | PPO | $294.42 | $501.75 | $994.54 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Land of Lincoln National Freedom PPO Plan | PPO | $293.00 | $499.32 | $989.70 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Land of Lincoln National Confidence PPO Plan | PPO | $290.67 | $495.36 | $981.84 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Humana National Preferred Silver 3650/3650 Plan | PPO | $288.86 | $492.28 | $975.74 |
| MC HENRY | Platinum | Humana Connect Platinum 1000/1500 Plan | HMO | $285.44 | $486.45 | $964.20 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Humana National Preferred Bronze 4850/6350 Plan | PPO | $283.84 | $483.72 | $958.78 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Land of Lincoln National Choice PPO Plan | PPO | $272.74 | $464.80 | $921.28 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Land of Lincoln National Freedom PPO Plan | PPO | $272.65 | $464.65 | $920.96 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Blue PPO Silver 004 | PPO | $268.44 | $457.48 | $906.76 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Blue Cross Blue Shield Solution 3, a Multi-State Plan | PPO | $258.75 | $440.96 | $874.02 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Blue PPO Silver 003 | PPO | $256.15 | $436.53 | $865.26 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Aetna Advantage 5750 PD | PPO | $254.00 | $433.00 | $858.00 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Humana Connect Gold 2500/3500 Plan | HMO | $253.17 | $431.46 | $855.20 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Humana National Preferred Bronze 6300/6300 Plan | PPO | $251.10 | $427.92 | $848.18 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Blue Cross Blue Shield Solution 4, a Multi-State Plan | PPO | $248.88 | $424.14 | $840.68 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Aetna AdvantagePlus 5500 PD | PPO | $248.00 | $422.00 | $836.00 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Aetna Advantage 6350 | PPO | $246.00 | $420.00 | $832.00 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Blue Choice Gold PPO 002 | PPO | $233.29 | $397.58 | $788.04 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Land of Lincoln National Complete PPO Plan | PPO | $230.89 | $393.48 | $779.92 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Land of Lincoln National Preferred PPO Plan | PPO | $228.24 | $388.96 | $770.98 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Blue Choice Gold PPO 001 | PPO | $223.89 | $381.55 | $756.26 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Humana Connect Silver 4600/6300 Plan | HMO | $219.87 | $374.71 | $742.70 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Land of Lincoln National Premier PPO Plan | PPO | $215.86 | $367.86 | $729.12 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Humana Connect Bronze 4850/6350 Plan | HMO | $208.99 | $356.16 | $705.96 |
| MC HENRY | Gold | Blue Precision Gold HMO 001 | HMO | $208.17 | $354.76 | $703.16 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Blue Cross Blue Shield Basic 5, a Multi-State Plan | PPO | $207.16 | $353.04 | $699.76 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Blue PPO Bronze 005 | PPO | $199.18 | $339.45 | $672.82 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Blue PPO Bronze 006 | PPO | $197.18 | $336.04 | $666.06 |
| MC HENRY | Catastrophic | Humana National Preferred Basic 6350/6350 Plan | PPO | $196.88 | $335.52 | $665.02 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Humana Connect Bronze 6300/6300 Plan | HMO | $193.88 | $330.41 | $654.90 |
| MC HENRY | Catastrophic | Blue Security PPO 010 | PPO | $192.87 | $328.69 | $651.48 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Land of Lincoln National Choice PPO Plan | PPO | $192.81 | $328.59 | $651.30 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Land of Lincoln National Freedom PPO Plan | PPO | $191.23 | $325.89 | $645.94 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Blue Choice Silver PPO 004 | PPO | $187.50 | $319.54 | $633.36 |
| MC HENRY | Catastrophic | Aetna Basic | PPO | $185.00 | $316.00 | $626.00 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Blue Precision Silver HMO 002 | HMO | $179.22 | $305.42 | $605.36 |
| MC HENRY | Silver | Blue Choice Silver PPO 003 | PPO | $177.84 | $303.08 | $600.72 |
| MC HENRY | Catastrophic | Humana Connect Basic 6350/6350 Plan | HMO | $148.24 | $252.62 | $500.72 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Blue Precision Bronze HMO 003 | HMO | $138.53 | $236.08 | $467.94 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Blue Choice Bronze PPO 005 | PPO | $128.87 | $219.62 | $435.30 |
| MC HENRY | Bronze | Blue Choice Bronze PPO 006 | PPO | $128.78 | $219.47 | $435.00 |
No Plan Descriptions
Each of those plan names should be a link to a description of the plan so you can see what the hell you are getting for your money. Alas, there is no link. Nor is there a link to the issuer so you can call them.
This is why you need to contact a certified In-Person Assister (IPA) to help you figure this all out.
Alternatively you can call a Certified Application Counselor (CAC), a community health center, an insurance agent or an insurance broker.
The rules say "States with partnership marketplaces must have a separate IPA program. States with state-based marketplaces can choose to have a separate IPA program. States with federally facilitated marketplaces are not permitted to have an IPA program"
Confused?
Just call your IPA except in the 34 states where you can't. Then call someone else.
Navigation Roulette
David Steinberg at PJ Media has additional comments and anecdotes about the navigation process in his post Identity Theft Russian Roulette: Healthcare.gov Refers Users to Uncertified Navigators and Assisters
I did as Steinberg did. I tried "Find Local Help" for my zipcode and found "461 results".
Results display 10 at a time. Most of the contacts require a phone call to schedule an appointment.
It seems you need a navigator to help you find a navigator. No problem.
If you "didn't find what you were looking for" then the "Contact Us" button will take you to a page where you can "Find Local Help". Alternatively, you can start a live chat.
I did not bother with any of that since I have a good plan that fortunately was not cancelled. Thus, I cannot tell you how much additional money Obamacare would have cost me personally. Others can, and the results are best described as ...
Obamashock!
Prepare to be shocked.
Reader Tim Wallace did figure out how much extra Obamacare would cost him.
Tim writes ...
- My plan that I had for years no longer exists.
- So much for Obama's claim you can keep your existing plan.
- The truly affordable plan I used to have cost me $753.60 per month with a $5,450 family deductible.
- The most "affordable" plan with similar benefits will cost $1,360.09 per month, except the family deductible is now $11,000.
- So much for Obama's claim "your costs will be lower"
- I am trying to clarify if I can even have a plan outside the company plan.
- Unfortunately the company plan is soaring to $2,100 a month because the plan is located in NJ and I live in NC.
- If I can have a plan in NC, it appears I will no longer be able to pay for it in pretax dollars like I used to. That is a hit of another 30% or so.
Unfortunately, I am reading other similar horror stories. If you have a plan you like, I hope you get to keep it.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
