Kevin Knauss: Health, History, Travel, Insurance
The Covered California CalHEERS online application and enrollment system is creating date of birth errors in the SubmittedApplicationPDF.pdf file. The month and the day are being switched. It is unknown if this is a simple reporting error or if the data is actually being submitted wrong to the carriers causing delays.
Covered California has finally admitted that their system has not been properly attributing agent designation by Certified Agent clients to insure the agent is listed as the Broker of Record with the insurance company for compensation. At the same time, the Covered California health plans continue to stonewall agents wanting to get appointed with them and one health plan is demanding agents work for free.
If you missed enrolling your children in one of the Covered California pediatric dental plans, you’re not alone. The stand alone children’s dental plans are one of the best kept secrets of the Covered California enrollment website. While I think I know how to get the selection to pop-up, it is as stupid and mysterious as the whole stand alone program to begin with.
I will happily attend any public enrollment event and assist anyone applying either for Medi-Cal or a health plan with or without premium assistance. However, hence forth, I will not attend any event where Certified Agents are allowed to discriminate against people based on their income and Medi-Cal eligibility. Further, if anyone is refused assistance from an agent because they might be Medi-Cal, please do us all a favor and report that agent to Covered California. Income discrimination practiced by Certified Agents needs to stop.
Johnny snapped a picture of his driver’s license on his knee while driving his VW micro bus through Weed on I-5 traveling to a gig in Ashland, Oregon. Johnny then emailed the picture of “verification document” for me to upload to his online application for health insurance.
One of the biggest questions I get is, “When will Covered California send me a bill for the health insurance?” Unfortunately, Covered California doesn’t invoice for the health insurance, that is left up to the insurance companies. If your application has been successfully transmitted to the insurance company you can make your first premium payment over the phone. Some applications have not, and may never, actually make it to your selected insurance company.
Applications submitted to Covered California in October and November are missing agent designations and have corrupted household information when received by one of the insurance companies. It is hard to know if these data corruptions are an aberration or if the problem may be more widespread in the Covered California system. The bottom line is that these individuals have received no billing information from the carrier and the agent is not the broker of record.
Covered California announced a marketing campaign aimed at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities to encourage them to enroll in new ACA health plans through the exchange. The print media and billboard advertising is in addition to grants to LGBT organizations to provide outreach and education.
Covered California has estimated that nearly 100,000 households have started an application but have not selected a health plan. To help “Jump Start” these stalled applications Covered California will be distributing the contact information of these stalled applications to Certified Agents to call the applicants and offer assistance to help them make a health plan selection for an effective date of January 1, 2014.
Compared to existing small group quoting and enrollment systems from the insurers and the Cal Choice private exchange, the Covered California SHOP program seems a little clunky and unfinished. If an employer wants to realize the tax credits for contributing to employee health insurance premiums they have to have a small group plan through Covered California. Except for the option to purchase pediatric dental plans for dependent children, SHOP offers no adult dental or vision insurance.
