IMPORTANT: Even though it is a PAIN to navigate the new federal healthcare system - having health insurance will change my life - it will save my life.
I am an American woman living with uncontrolled seizures. I have Epilepsy and I am currently uninsurable.
My life will change in January. Insurance will bring luxuries to my life including proper medical treatment, MRI and diagnostic tests and the ability to take life saving medication without fear of running out of prescriptions. It is going to be a beautiful brand new world for me. One day soon I will not live in fear of dying because I cannot access proper care; I will struggle, I will fight but I will live.
FYI: November is National Epilepsy Awareness month in the United States.
#aca #gopurple #epilepsy #ofa #obamacare
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Today you get to read my email response to a question floating around at work about healthcare.gov and our new American health care system. Yes, we get to discuss things like this at my job - pretty cool place.
In response to those angered by the healthcare.gov website:
I liked this Reddit "Explain To Me Like I am Five" counterpoint to those who feel that the new system, specifically healthcare.gov, is a failure:
However, even with government inefficiencies and bureaucracy calculated in - I don't personally get it. We have a $100 Million Website linked to a $643 Million System that does not work. This must be fixed!
I am uninsured and live with Epilepsy - so of course I started the healthcare sign-up process on day one. My state requires using the federally generated healthcare.gov process. (Online sign up results will vary based on whether your state sets up its own service or not.) Most states use the federal system.
Federal system - for the first 30 days the system was unusable. It would not populate form fields. It would not save most information to the database. It would not recall information that it had saved.
It took weeks for me to get a login to work. I don't mean it took weeks for me to fill out the application and verify my identity. No. It took weeks to just get the username/password to work.
The system is still down more than it is up - I was on there Tuesday of last week. Too much traffic (at 2 AM?) - could not log in. I try to log in a few times every week.
Identity verification process is broken for most applicants. it is better to call Experian and Healthcare.gov on the phone. Phone reps from both companies are excellent - great customer service. (Kudos: https://twitter.com/seizethediary/status/393877888132345858)
I am still waiting for my identity verification to process - the database "backlog" needs to be remedied - so when I (eventually) log in at healthcare.gov the database has my verification info on file. Once the database is fixed I should be able to choose a healthcare plan.
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RQ
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