Posted on 10/26/2013 8:01:30 AM PDT by Kaslin
You can now see cost options of various Obamacare plans whether or not you are registered.
Once on the site (click on the above link), filter your state and county.
Click on the lines as shown by the arrow, not the "i" symbol.
Don't bother with the instruction line at the top of the form that reads "For instructions on how to read and use this data, please view the documentation available under the ‘About’ tab on"
If you find and click on the "about tab", it humorously looks like this:
After you click on the "about tab", one of the first things you will see is the message "For instructions on how to read and use this data, please view the documentation available under the ‘About’ tab on this page."
Zero Stars
One person actually gave this page three stars. I wanted to give it zero stars, but that was not an option. I tried one star, but I was not registered, so my vote did not count. Out of 399,014 visits, only one person voted on the quality of the page.
There are some links on the page, but none of them were at all helpful on how to use the page.
After doing some external searches as to what some of the fields mean, I attempted to download data and it actually worked. Rather than use the site tools, I did additional filtering, sorting, and column removal in Excel.
McHenry County, Illinois Plans
I live in McHenry County, Illinois. There were 4216 plans for Illinois. There were 60 plans for McHenry County.
No Plan Descriptions
Each of those plan names should be a link to a description of the plan so you can see what the hell you are getting for your money. Alas, there is no link. Nor is there a link to the issuer so you can call them.
This is why you need to contact a certified In-Person Assister (IPA) to help you figure this all out.
Alternatively you can call a Certified Application Counselor (CAC), a community health center, an insurance agent or an insurance broker.
The rules say "States with partnership marketplaces must have a separate IPA program. States with state-based marketplaces can choose to have a separate IPA program. States with federally facilitated marketplaces are not permitted to have an IPA program"
Confused?
Just call your IPA except in the 34 states where you can't. Then call someone else.
Navigation Roulette
David Steinberg at PJ Media has additional comments and anecdotes about the navigation process in his post Identity Theft Russian Roulette: Healthcare.gov Refers Users to Uncertified Navigators and Assisters
I did as Steinberg did. I tried "Find Local Help" for my zipcode and found "461 results".
Results display 10 at a time. Most of the contacts require a phone call to schedule an appointment.
It seems you need a navigator to help you find a navigator. No problem.
If you "didn't find what you were looking for" then the "Contact Us" button will take you to a page where you can "Find Local Help". Alternatively, you can start a live chat.
I did not bother with any of that since I have a good plan that fortunately was not cancelled. Thus, I cannot tell you how much additional money Obamacare would have cost me personally. Others can, and the results are best described as ...
Obamashock!
Prepare to be shocked.
Reader Tim Wallace did figure out how much extra Obamacare would cost him.
Tim writes ...
Unfortunately, I am reading other similar horror stories. If you have a plan you like, I hope you get to keep it.
The most helpful tip I could give anyone that actually pays net federal taxes is to stay the hell away from it.
I’m not getting near that web site. They’ll capture my IP address, and then...
The prices on this site are not accurate. About the only thing you can do is see who the providers are and what plans the offer and then go direct to the insurers website or (gag) log on to the real healthcare.gov site. Mine is about 300 dollars higher than what’s shown. So beware. The site does not take in your sex, your age, tobacco user. Iam 62 yr old female and I don’t smoke. It shows 437 dollars for a policy that I like but actually it is 722.00.
Man, I've been living in the wrong end of the income pool. That number sure doesn't look affordable to me.
I wouldn't touch that website with YOUR browser!
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