#Obamacare health insurance plan is through Obama's website.
Yes, that would be the healthcare.guv we hear so much about.
You can also visit with a #navigator that may be hanging out in the parking lot of your local 7-11 or liquor store and sign up on the spot.
Allegedly.
But it is a little known fact, very little known, that licensed insurance agents that have been helping people make coverage decisions are still around. If you did not know any better, and you may not, you would think health insurance agents were beamed aboard the mother ship and whisked off to a galaxy far, far away where people still buy insurance the old fashioned way.
The folks at InsureBlog are pleased to tell you words of our early demise are greatly exaggerated. You can still find an agent willing to assist.
Here is what one agent shared about his 6 hour adventure in the Obamaland House of Horrors.
I've yet to have a single subsidized policy actually get my info attached to it correctly. Today I spent two hours (yes, really) on the phone and had to do two separate client conference calls to get my name added as the authorized representative. Here was the sequence of events on the most recent one that I did over the course of 4 or 5 days:
1. Client applies online, gets approved for subsidy. My agent info is included on the app.
2. healthcare.gov loses my information, says I am not attached to the app when I call
3. Client calls HC.gov help line to have my info added as their authorized representative. She verifies that I'm on there by calling back and checking a second time.
4. I call HC.gov and they can't find me anywhere in the system as an authorized rep
5. Client calls HC.gov again to do the same thing
6. I call, they can't find it again
7. Client calls a third time, gets the CSR's ID number which they aren't supposed to give out, and verifies again that I'm the authorized rep with specific instructions for the next rep on how to find me in the system
8. I call, they can't find it again. 45 minutes on hold for a supervisor and I give up.
9. We do a conference call with HC.gov to get my name added as authorized rep with client on the phone verifying it. We get the CSR ID number again which they aren't supposed to give out.
10. I call back, they can't find it again. I talk to a supervisor, who tells me if I can get client on the phone AGAIN, she will make sure it's taken care of.
11. I call client for a second conference call. Supervisor says authorized rep can only be on the account for 14 days at a time, then we have to call back and do this all over again if it's more than 14 days out.
12. I let client hang up, ask about what plans and rates are available to her, they can't pull up any rates because the system is down.
This was all after it took the client 6 hours to complete the online app. All of the CSR's except one had no clue what I was trying to ask them to do. I was put on hold for at least 15 minutes each time. What a joke.
The next time you hear someone say buying an Obamacare plan online is like booking a trip on Travelocity, just make sure it is not a trip to Hell.
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