So Obama Supporters, how do we apply for the subsidies to get Health Insurance?

[truedelphi]

I seriously want to know.

I would love to have "real insurance" as the County plan I am on is okay for "normal" emergencies, like if I fell and broke a bone. Or if I got pneumonia.

But for serious matters, I must wait nine months to see a specialist.

So how do I get a subsidy so I can get a real insurance policy? Anyone know?

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I suggest you start here:

http://www.healthcare.gov/

[Zenlitened]

4. Ouch.

For people facing premium increases (I've heard lately of increases of $100/month or more) this is not helpful:

If you have been uninsured for at least six months and have a health condition, you may be able to get health insurance through the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan.

That's from the site, in the section about individuals with pre-existing health conditions:
http://www.healthcare.gov/foryou/conditions/index.html

Too big a gamble for anyone to take, IMO. Folks need to check out their states' resources, too. In Massachusetts, try: www.mahealthconnector.org

[truedelphi]

20. You really have to wonder who in the world would risk being able to go six months

Without insurance.

Thanks for the tip about the Massach. area.

Might help those who live in that state.

[Zenlitened]

23. The healthcare.gove site also has a tool to search by state...

... as well as by situation: individual, family, self-employed, etc.:
http://finder.healthcare.gov/

Whether it's all just an exercise in wasting time clicking around the internet, I don't know. Following some of the Massachusetts links seems to lead to nothing more than a page full of press releases. Wow.

But that's what the internet is for: Making sure we never have the chance have a conversation with someone who can answer our specific questions. :(

A better approach, IMO, is to pick up the phone and call our elected officials: senators or representatives, state or federal.

Let them know you need help getting affordable health care, and they just might have someone in the office whose main task is to do just that. Or who can put you a step closer to someone whose job it is to help.

It's worth a try, IMO, because "it's on the internet" has become practically useless as a response to our questions, on this or any other topic.

And who knows, the person on the other end of the phone might be starved for human contact, too. A little conversation instead of an endless stream of e-mails and electronic form submissions. Dialog and problem-solving... everything old is new again! :)

[Donnachaidh]

29. *risk*? I'm sure there are thousands going without insurance right now

Because our government has done NOTHING to help with the unemployment situation.

But hey -- then they can get into this *historic* program, yeah? Another one *knocked out of the park* by the White House! :sarcasm:

[area51]

33. +1

Each day, 273 people die due to lack of health care in the U.S.; that's 100,000 deaths per year.

We need single-payer health care, not a welfare bailout for the serial-killer insurance agencies.

"We will never have real reform until people's health stops being treated as a financial opportunity for corporations."

[HereSince1628]

2. Register to run for Congress???????

[leftstreet]

7. +1

[Barack2theFuture]

18. I'd lol if it didn't hurt

[sandnsea]

3. The subsidized exchange starts in 2014

Although if you qualify for a county plan of some sort, you'll probably be eligible for Medicaid in 2014.

[bigwillq]

6. So hold out until then.

:(

[sandnsea]

8. Anything would take time to implement

I suppose we could just do nothing for another 50 years in the hopes of getting single payer then.

[bigwillq]

10. I know it takes time

Four years seems like a long time, though. And I don't propose doing nothing.

[Hello_Kitty]

11. We can sure as shit implement an illegal war quickly. eom

[sandnsea]

12. Yeah that worked out well n/t

[Hannah Bell]

27. it did for some people. or classes.

[bigwillq]

15. It's amazing what "we" can do

when "we" want to do it. Why can't we wait four years to implement a war? :shrug: But yet we have to wait four years for this reform to kick in. Talk about priorities.

[Hannah Bell]

26. +100

[sandnsea]

13. You've got the votes for single payer?

Who are they?

[bigwillq]

14. Never said we did (nt)

[sandnsea]

17. Then what's your plan? n/t

[Hannah Bell]

28. he isn't required to have a fucking "plan." we already have a medicare system, & it wouldn't

take any fucking four years to make it universal.

buy a clue.

[chill_wind]

32. +1000

[Zenlitened]

34. But but but there weren't enough votes!

We knew in advance, so that's why we never even tried to fire up support for Medicare For All!

:crazy:

Sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy, to me. Not a matter of pragmatism. And certainly not a matter of Yes We Can or Fired Up, Ready To Go.

Folks can call me bitter, call me a hater, call me a species or genus of tree, for all I care.

But please don't deny that I'm not alone in feeling more could have been done to fight for a paradigm-changing solution.

And none of the excuses about "pragmatism" really seem to ease the sting.

[Sea Witch]

31. Medicare for all- system already in place.

[Zenlitened]

24. LOL. See? Wait time to see a doctor DOES increase with "socialized healthcare"!

/sarcasm

2014 is a long way off, isn't it? :(

[Hello_Kitty]

5. If your plan is through work you're not eligible for subsidized plans on the exchange. eom

[sandnsea]

9. Depends on the cost of the plan n/t

[JoePhilly]

16. Vote GOP. nt.

[POAS]

19. Where exactly is the bottleneck

that is causing the 9 month wait to see a specialist?

[truedelphi]

21. That is all I know. You have something wrong that requires a specialist,

It is a nine month wait.

Take it or leave it. (I mean, there are options: I could rob a bank or embezzle to get the money to see a specialist. Or get a job with insurance. Or divorce M. and marry someone with good insurance. Or win the lottery.)

In my case, last summer, I had clonus in my right arm, and I naturally wanted to see a neurologist.

But it was a nine month wait. It turned out the clonus was a side efffect of some meds I was on, so I went off the meds. But if that hadn't done the trick, I would have had to wait it out. And of course, if the problem was neurological, I could have suffered a stroke long before the nine months was up.

Begging and pleading doesn't get you anywhere. Except if a "nice" person is on the other end of the phone, they may offer sympathy.

[POAS]

22. So the county agency put you on a waiting list?

Was this because the muscle contractions were not life threatening or debilitating or some other reason? I assume you asked for a reason for the wait.

Was this a referral from another doctor or your own request? I might expect that having a referral from your family doctor would expedite the process.

Under the very expensive plan I am now in the process of leaving I still had to have a referral to see a specialist for my cancer and the specialist had about a 1.5 to 2 month waiting list for new patients and then another several weeks for more diagnostic tests. (Now I should also point out that the cancer was caught very early and is a form that is very slow growing so I was in no immediate danger.) The process to arrange for my surgery then took another 1.5 months. So about 4 months, with a referral and an expensive health plan from initial findings till surgery.

[truedelphi]

25. My doctor made the referal, and since it was through the County

Insurance program, it involved a nine month wait. before I would have even seen a specialist.

I do feel lucky in that were I living in a larger County, I might not even have a General Practitioner - in some places in California, there are simply no doctors willing to see new patients on County Medical programs. So although you "have" insurance, no doctors think that the insurance pays them enough to see you.

I do like my GP and for now, I don't really need a specialist. But according to answers that other DU'ers offered above, I have to wait until 2014 until there is any sort of options for me and my spouse.

So I am a bit less than thrilled about all the hoopla about the health care Reform. It all seems a whole lot like what we had before - the rich do not even worry about health care inusrance, while everyone else makes do.

I am sorry to hear about your brush with cancer, and hopeful that your prognosis remains good.

Your experience with needing a referral, and then a wait for tests, and then a wait for results for tests is what we experienced back in the days when we had employee programs' HMO insurance. And it ran us $ 957 a month. With a major misdiagnosis and other much less than desirable results.

But, hey! At least we don't have that commie pinko socialistic deal of Universal Single Payer Health Care
being shoved down our throats.<sarcasm meant>

[Sea Witch]

30. I thought it was a tax credit and not a subsidy

[truedelphi]

35. That may be the case.

Thank you for allowing me to know how to phrase the question to my Congress person's office.

Gosh, I wish Ted Kennedy was still with us in the Senate.

If he was around, even though I live in California, his staff would have sent me an info sheet detailing everything I could conceivably wonder about this legislation or any other legislation that I wanted to know about.