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</p>
<p>Sorry, Calmom, you did give an effective example. I wanted people to know to not just accept the first billing on that type of situation. IF you have no control and IF the rest is in network, you COULD get it paid, but it will take time & effort & persistence.</p>
<p>Well it is hard to argue with an unnamed adminstration source.</p>
<p>Did the administration announce that there were 40,000 sign ups in Octobef?</p>
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</p>
<p>And yet I provided you with all the sources. If you don’t believe my numbers, add them up yourself. Here’s the spreadsheet again:
[ACASignups.net</a> | Tracking Enrollments for the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare)](<a href=“http://www.acasignups.net%5DACASignups.net”>http://www.acasignups.net)
Every single number in that spreadsheet is sourced. Of the 4-ish million people who will be newly enrolled for Medicaid on Jan. 1, something like 800,000 were moved over from various pre-Medicaid programs set up in certain states for people who were then ineligible for Medicaid, but will be eligible in 2014.</p>
<p>Exponential growth is exponential.</p>
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<p>No. Signups are signups. You have to click Enroll to sign up; you don’t just put something in your shopping cart.</p>
<p>It’s the difference between my putting a book in my shopping cart at Amazon, and my clicking Purchase (or whatever the button says). If I click Purchase, I still might not pay my bill, but I have committed to buy the book.</p>
<p>[Health</a> insurance enrollees urged to make payments - Red Bluff Daily News Online](<a href=“http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/business/ci_24807724/health-insurance-enrollees-urged-make-payments]Health”>http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/business/ci_24807724/health-insurance-enrollees-urged-make-payments)</p>
<p>"SACRAMENTO (AP) With its first major deadline in the past, California’s health insurance exchange is urging the thousands of people who enrolled for coverage to take the next step and pay for it.</p>
<p>Premiums are due by Jan. 6 for policies starting in the new year.</p>
<p>Those who missed the cutoff will have three months to get coverage before a tax penalty kicks in under the federal health insurance reforms.</p>
<p>It’s important for people to realize that their policies will not take effect simply because they enrolled for coverage, said Anne Gonzales, a spokeswoman for Covered California, the agency running the state’s health exchange.</p>
<p>They have to submit their payments,‘’ she said.</p>
<p>The latest tally from Covered California, released Friday, shows 428,000 people have signed up for an insurance plan since open enrollment under the federal Affordable Care Act began in October.</p>
<p>That number might have been higher, if not for technical problems on the Covered California website and jammed phone lines at the agency’s three call centers throughout the state.</p>
<p>The exchange was overwhelmed with demand as Monday’s deadline loomed and people rushed to get coverage starting in the new year."</p>
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<p>Partially correct.
Sign ups are signing up (agreed).</p>
<p>When you click enroll you don’t sign up, you enroll.</p>
<p>Sebelius used this definition during her presentations in front of Congress.</p>
<p>To use the Amazon analogy, you sign up for an account at Amazon, provide them info on your user name, password, email address, shipping address. You then select some things that you put in your cart. Congrats. You are signed up for an account with Amazon and you even selected something you are interested in buying.</p>
<p>At some point to click the purchase button, congrats you are enrolled (assuming your payment goes through).</p>
<p>Some of the states are releasing the numbers of people who have enrolled, and the numbers of people who have already paid their bills. In Washington about half of the enrollees had paid as of Christmas Eve; the bills aren’t due until the end of the year.
[Washington</a> Health Benefit Exchange :: Dec. 24 Data Report](<a href=“http://www.wahbexchange.org/news-resources/press-room/press-releases/dec-24-data-report]Washington”>http://www.wahbexchange.org/news-resources/press-room/press-releases/dec-24-data-report)</p>
<p>Fine. HHS is using the word “enrolled.”</p>
<p>
[Enrollment</a> Surged Prior to the Deadline for Coverage on January 1 | HHS.gov/healthcare](<a href=“http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/blog/2013/12/enrollment-surged.html]Enrollment”>http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/blog/2013/12/enrollment-surged.html)</p>
<p>OK?</p>
<p>
No, I think that that many people who are not familiar with the exchanges are confused about the process. As far as I know, neither healthcare.gov nor many of the state exchanges (including CoveredCA) are set up to receive direct payment from consumers.</p>
<p>So the very LAST transaction that is made on the exchange is to select a plan. As far as the exchange is concerned, at that point, the person is “enrolled”.</p>
<p>After that, information is transmitted to the insurance carrier, who is then supposed to bill the customer.</p>
<p>So essentially every person who has completed plan selection on the exchange is now “enrolled”. It is possible that some of those people may become “disenrolled” down the line if they fail to make their first payment by the appropriate deadline – but for purposes of reporting they are “enrolled.” </p>
<p>It is not as if the plan is “sitting in their shopping cart” – it’s more like what has happened between the time you complete a transaction by ordering stuff from Amazon, and your stuff actually gets delivered. Amazon can reasonably expect that some deliveries will go awry and some items sold will get returned, but if they were to release end-of-the-month sales figures based on all orders completed as of the last day of the month, it would still be an accurate number. </p>
<p>There really is no way for the exchanges to report anything different, because once the person signs up on the exchange, the accounting is shifted over to the private insurance company. The companies can make their own arrangements for payment with customers. </p>
<p>We can assume that if payment isn’t made, the company will then notify the exchange and/or the consumer that the policy will not issue – but until such time as that happens, as far as the exchange is concerned, the person is enrolled in a plan commencing on whatever date their records show the policy to begin.</p>
<p>Calmon, you do have to actually pay Amazon. It’s not really comparable to your book getting lost in the mail or being returned later. That is a stretch. I see what you’re saying, but really.</p>
<p>This is the timeline…</p>
<p>We cant pass Obamacare. Obamacare is going to increase the deficit.
The technology doesnt work. We have to repeal Obamacare.
People’s plans are being cancelled. They are losing their insurance. We have to repeal Obamacare.
Nobody is signing up. Nobody wants Obamacare. We have to repeal it.
People arent going to pay. Signups Dont mean people will pay. We have to repeal or change Obamacare.
The coverage stinks. We have to change Obamacare.
Young people arent signing up. We have to change Obamacare.
Then March comes. Young people sign up.
Then most young people pay. </p>
<p>I dont want to get banned now so I will stop. :)</p>
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<p>No. The LAST transaction is to commit to purchase that plan. Not just select one.</p>
<p>You can select a plan and log out without committing to purchase at that point.</p>
<p>dstark 8491: yes, that’s sure what it feels like. I got a hangnail. Repeal ACA. Someone told me someone they knew heard that…repeal ACA.</p>
<p>Thread moved fast, but arguing based on one report about a car dealership is crazy. And, is it reallllly one of the best paces to work, in MI?</p>
<p>Btw, what I am seeing is that Obama did not promise your premium costs would go down. But that the “average family” would see this change. Problem is, as this thread shows, people form opinions based on whole lotta whisper down the lane, a lot of what they think about what they think they heard someone else thinks based on, oh, who knows if it’s even accurate? Repeating something enough to get it into the common lore doesn’t make it accurate.</p>
<p>"dstark 8491: yes, that’s sure what it feels like. I got a hangnail. Repeal ACA. Someone told me someone they knew heard that…repeal ACA.</p>
<p>Thread moved fast, but arguing based on one report about a car dealership is crazy. And, is it reallllly one of the best paces to work, in MI?</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I thought the remark one of the best places to work in Michigan was strange.</p>
<p>Correction: one of the 100 best car dealerships to work for in the country.</p>
<p>I messaged Charles Gaba ( Brainwrap) at Acasignups, on the issue of whether the people who have already enrolled for plans on the exchange will pay. He sent me this answer:</p>
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<p>CF, nice.</p>
<p>Great website.</p>
<p>I want to know if people can pay when they sign up. I heard that feature is coming if not already here on some exchanges.</p>
<p>Maybe that is why a couple of those states have 90+ Percent payers?</p>
<p><a href=“http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-78698282/[/url]”>http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-78698282/</a></p>
<p>@cardinal fang</p>
<p>Interesting.
I am not sure how January 10th is the date since depending on the exchange, if you don’t pay on time your application is voided and you have to reapply. Maybe that is a reporting date?</p>
<p>So lesson learned is to make sure you meet that deadline.</p>
<p>For Indiana it is 12/31/13
For CA it is 1/6/13</p>
<p>[Signing</a> up for Obamacare doesn’t mean you’re insured - Dec. 5, 2013](<a href=“http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/05/news/economy/obamacare-insured/]Signing”>Signing up for Obamacare doesn't mean you're insured)</p>
<p>Anthem Ca changed the date to pay to Jan 10.</p>
<p>I got the email from BCBS to work and they asked me what numbers I had tried and that they would be contacting me tonight.
Nope. No surprise there. </p>
<p>I <em>did</em> figure out why the system is so overwhelmed- there has been no way for people signing up with BCBS via the exchange to pay! The system to call in with payment hasn’t been working and BCBS hasn’t set up their online accounts. Apparently they’ve been flooded with calls for 2 weeks because of this issue.</p>
<p>ETA: Apparently they just changed something with their Autism therapy coverage, effective 1/1/14, on some plans but didn’t tell anyone until last week… and only some people get the notification. (Can’t find anything about it in the news, but that’s what their FB page is currently being swamped with.)</p>