In my twenty plus years in Healthcare I have never seen anything like this.
The first surge of enrollment is putting pressure on the States health exchange, the States three call centers have been swamped. I called Covered CA yesterday and after an hour and a half I was able to get hold of someone. A glimmer of hope is that by the end of the day Friday, many people that had applied received an email from Covered California welcoming them to the plan.Most consumers who have signed up for insurance are in the dark, without any proof of insurance many are calling me asking "what to do"? Covered Ca has posted on it's site to pay your bill before receiving any proof of enrollment. Still what happens if you need your Prescriptions refilled? What happens if you end up going to a Physician? What happens if you end up going to ER? These are all questions that are left un-answered because folks who have enrolled for a January 01, 2014 for a large part have not received any ID cards or notification of any sort.
Helpful hints:
The next enrollment deadline is January 15, 2014 to start coverage by February 01, 2014 contact me to enroll (approximately 15 minutes over the phone or email).
The deadline to pay your bill is 01/10/2014 (some carriers like Kaiser are extending to 01/15/2014: Click the link below to find out more:
https://www.coveredca.com/PDFs/How_to_Make_a_Payment.pdf
If you Qualified and applied for MedI Cal (free Healthcare) in Orange County that is Cal Optima- please read below:
Information About Pending Medi-Cal Applications
Due to the large number of Medi-Cal applications received through the Covered California website, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) will provide temporary Medi-Cal eligibility for many individuals and families while their applications are being verified. This temporarycoverage, called presumptive eligibility, will allow you to receive Medi-Cal coverage starting January 1, 2014 while your application is being verified. As part of the verification process, county human services offices will review state residency, citizenship, immigration status and income.
If your Covered California application was still pending approval for Medi-Cal on or before December 14, you will likely get this temporary Medi-Cal coverage. If so, DHCS will send a letter to inform you of your status. The letter will also remind you to quickly send any information requested by your county human services office to finish verifying your eligibility. Your Medi-Cal Benefits Identification Card (BIC) will be mailed to you shortly, and your coverage will begin January 1, 2014.
Find out what's happening in Newport Beach-Corona Del Marwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Some applications with incomplete or incorrect information may not be able to get temporary Medi-Cal coverage. Your county human services office will be able to tell you if you have temporary coverage. Even if you do not get the temporary coverage, once your eligibility is confirmed your coverage will become effective as of January 1, 2014.
If you need medical care in early January, and don’t get temporary coverage under presumptive eligibility, you may be able to get medical carethrough Medi-Cal coverage in the following ways:
Find out what's happening in Newport Beach-Corona Del Marwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
- Some hospitals can provide temporary Medi-Cal coverage for adults, pregnant women, children, and former foster youth.
- Pregnant women can get temporary Medi-Cal coverage from certain Medi-Cal providers and clinics.
- Children can get temporary Medi-Cal coverage from certain Medi-Cal providers and clinics who see children.
Next deadline:
January 15, 2014 is the next deadline to enroll into Covered Ca for a February 01, 2014 effective date I would encourage folks to sign up sooner than later.
Here in Newport
Rudy
ppohmo@aol.com
