California Obamacare provider inundated with complaints

This is about some problems with the Covered California insurance system, not the National ObamaCare exchange and mostly with Anthem Blue Cross.

But it seems that many universal problems exist.

Things like no payment verification even though people have paid the policy premium but haven't received a card yet.

And things like long waiting on phones trying to get answers and having to pay cash because a store or doctor's office can't get information from an insurance company.

There's even people complaining that they can't get through to cancel a policy as well as hang ups and getting the wrong extension after waiting !!

This one's probably on the insurance company, but I bet they're having trouble with the information coming from the exchange managers.

Either way, it's a real PITA for the average customer I would say.

It comes to the point where all involved are to blame now (except the victims of course).

Now have fun trying to make a delayed claim later on.

California Obamacare provider inundated with complaints

The Anthem Blue Cross public relations account is being inundated with complaints this week as people struggle to learn if their payments have been credited and their benefits started. While most agreed that the rollout of the federal HealthCare.gov website was a disaster, Covered California’s high enrollment was touted by some on the Left as evidence that Obamacare is working just fine.

Covered California this weekend extended its payment deadline to Jan. 15, but many people say they’ve already paid and have no proof that they’re covered.

But I'm sure the "music on hold" is soothing

You might recall I had a thread awhile back about a county in the Bay Area and their California care call center for the ACA... They'd all been advertised and promised full time work even the county officials had believed in, then after being too committed and quitting existing jobs, got told 'oops... only some get full..most don't and no benefits either'. Ironic, that last bit...

How happy and well motivated do you think those call center people are though? I'm guessing your misery is their delight, given how they got screwed just getting the jobs in some cases. The story then had seemed to indicate that hadn't been an isolated incident for bait/switch and outta luck.

reply to post by xuenchen

This is about some problems with the Covered California insurance system, not the National ObamaCare exchange and mostly with Anthem Blue Cross.

But it seems that many universal problems exist.

The thing is, if it wasn't for Obamacare , forcing people to comply --especially causing them to lose their current plan-- then the local insurance companies wouldn't have this situation to deal with.

If the government website is not up to par, how in the world are the insurance companies or hospitals supposed to be??

Obama/Hillary/Reid/Pelosi were so consumed in passing this piece of crap legislature ASAP, that no one took the time to see if every thing else would be up to standards and fall into line with it.
In other words, they never looked further than their agenda to see if this would be feasible for insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, etc. to handle any repercussions ---not to mention the many Americans that lost their policy/doctor after being told 'oh no, you have nothing to worry about'...yeah right

Let politicians stick with politics.
And let the Medical Field--doctors/nurses/hospitals/insurance companies-- deal with a universal healthcare plan

Obamacare is a nightmare that needs to be awakened and done away with until they can find people who will look at it from a larger scope, not just their political agendas...even if it takes more than 2 years to tackle

I am one of these people! I signed up for Obamacare through Covered California (no choice in the matter because I recently became uninsured) by the Dec. 23 deadline for coverage beginning Jan 1. The Covered CA website says that I am now enrolled with Anthem and that I would receive an email or letter giving me a subscriber ID which is necessary to make my first premium payment by Jan 6. I keep getting emails from Covered CA that say I won't be covered if I miss the due date, but I have yet to receive such an email or letter from Anthem.

As yesterday was the Jan 6 deadline and the Anthem website wouldn't let me make a payment with no ID, I called them, was put on hold for 40 minutes, got cut off and gave up. BTW, when you visit the Anthem website, there's information about their contact hours but no phone number to call. Bwaaahahaha!

Here's an actual chat transcript with one of these fine representatives from yesterday.

==
You are now chatting with 'Kelcie'
Kelcie: Thank you for contacting Anthem Blue Cross. How may I assist you?
Me: Hi, I enrolled through Covered California last month, and was supposed to receive a letter or email with an application ID, but received neither.
Me: I need to make a payment!
Kelcie: Have you contacted Covered CA?
Me: It's not a Covered California issue. According to them, my application is complete and I am enrolled.
Kelcie: Oh, I'm sorry. That's correct.
Me: Their website sends me to yours.
Kelcie: You'll need to call Member Services.
Me: FYI, your website lists the hours that you can call, but not the phone number.
Kelcie: Please take a moment to complete the survey when you exit the chat by clicking on the close button above our conversation.
======

GAAHHH!!! The real kicker will be next year when the IRS penalizes me for not having insurance coverage for this month.

reply to post by graceunderpressure

GAAHHH!!! The real kicker will be next year when the IRS penalizes me for not having insurance coverage for this month.

America, land of the free.............................[/sarcasm]

So sorry to hear about that, how frustrating that must be
Not to mention you had coverage previously only to lose it thanks to ACA

Yeah, I heard something to the effect that they'll take out any penalties on those who receive of refund next year
Not sure if that's accurate

Hope all works out for you
Keep us posted

--------

ETA: How convenient for them to omit the phone number on their website...that person literally blew you off IMO

reply to post by snarky412


Thanks, Snarky. The phone number omission is either sheer incompetence or it's a deliberate choice. Neither thought is very comforting.

'Was talking with my sister yesterday and she was saying how relieved she was that she had one of the "grandfathered" insurance plans that she can keep. I hope that's true but I highly doubt it. 'More likely they'll raise her rates sky high or change her coverage so that coverage only applies for pregnant women on third Tuesdays with a Peruvian doctor who specialize in ingrown toenails.

reply to post by xuenchen



The problem here is that none of this complaining (or whatever) really goes to the core of the issue (Obamacare individual mandate). Unfortunately, most of these issues can and will eventually be fixed. If your whole plan is to keep nitpicking over little things that don't work, what will you do when they fix them? They love this because the more they get people talking about this crap, the less people are thinking about the individual mandate. They want the fuss over the mandate to go away. They have been trying to change the subject ever since they realized it was a big sticking point.

People need to keep hounding them about it and not let up. Who cares if Obamacare works or not? If you could opt out of it, it wouldn't matter.