Free Republic

Government Work: Enrollment in Covered California was flat this year, and consumers hate it. But the director still got a huge raise and a fat bonus. So much for ObamaCare rooting out health care waste.

Democratic state lawmakers on Thursday shot down a proposal that would have required all California state legislators to get their health insurance from Covered California, the benefits exchange set up to implement Obamacare in the state. The Assembly Rules Committee split along party lines, with seven Democrats opposing AB 1109 and three Republicans in support of the bill by Assemblyman Scott Wilk. The measure would have forced lawmakers to give up the taxpayer-subsidized health plans provided by the Legislature and individually sign up for Covered California. Wilk introduced the measure after hearing complaints from several constituents about difficulties in signing...

As President Obama fights in Congress and the courts to preserve the nation's sweeping healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act faces still another threat to its viability: Republicans in statehouses, many bucking governors of their own party eager to accept its flow of federal dollars.When a group of Republican governors filed suit to overturn Obama's signature achievement, Wyoming's Matt Mead was among them, arguing the legislation was a vast overreach that violated the Constitution and trampled the right of states to set their own policies.But after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected that argument, Mead decided it would be foolhardy to...

As someone who was forced into Covered California (CC) last year when Aetna, my long-time and excellent healthcare insurer, exited California’s individual market, I am painfully aware of the technical incompetence of the CC website. This year, the CC website has been down for the last two weeks, even though CC renewals are due by November 15th. As someone who had their monthly healthcare premium jacked-up by 71% from $780 a month in 2013 with Aetna to $1,336 with Covered California in 2014, it seems convenient the website outage is hiding the huge premium increases many new Covered Californians are...

California’s health insurance exchange has awarded $184 million in contracts without the competitive bidding and oversight that is standard practice across state government, including deals that sent millions of dollars to a firm whose employees have long-standing ties to the agency's executive director. Covered California’s no-bid contracts were for a variety of services, ranging from public relations to paying for ergonomic adjustments to work stations, according to an Associated Press review of contracting records obtained through the state Public Records Act. Several of those contracts worth a total of $4.2 million went to a consulting firm, The Tori Group, whose...

We are a family of six – two parents and four children – who, because of a rough year in 2013, had to apply for subsidized healthcare coverage under the new Obamacare rules. Yes, count us among the 7.1 million that Kathleen Sebelius is currently claiming are active Obamacare signups. We live in Orange County, Southern California, so our coverage comes through the state exchange, Covered California ...

LA MESA, Calif. - A local couple called 10News concerned after they received an envelope from the state's Obamacare website, Covered California. Inside was a letter discussing voter registration and a registration card pre-marked with an "x" in the box next to Democratic Party. The couple – who did not want their identity revealed – received the letter and voter registration card from their health insurance provider Covered California, the state-run agency that implements President Obama's Affordable Care Act.

With less than a month left to sign up for private insurance under the federal health care law, California's enrollment numbers are closing in on the magic number of 1 million as 8,000 people sign up every day. If only everyone would pay their premiums. Roughly 15 percent of the Californians who had enrolled by Jan. 31 still haven't sent in their first month's payment, according to four major health insurance companies participating in the Covered California exchange. So those lofty enrollment numbers could soon be dropping substantially.

Congratulations! You have successfully signed up for a truly excellent plan on the Covered California website! It's a really, really great plan. Really. Now, good look finding a doctor who will treat you. Los Angeles Times: After overcoming website glitches and long waits to get Obamacare, some patients are now running into frustrating new roadblocks at the doctor's office.A month into the most sweeping changes to healthcare in half a century, people are having trouble finding doctors at all, getting faulty information on which ones are covered and receiving little help from insurers swamped by new business.Experts have warned...

Many consumers faced hurdles signing up for Covered California health plans. Now they're having trouble finding in-network doctors. After overcoming website glitches and long waits to get Obamacare, some patients are now running into frustrating new roadblocks at the doctor's office. A month into the most sweeping changes to healthcare in half a century, people are having trouble finding doctors at all, getting faulty information on which ones are covered and receiving little help from insurers swamped by new business. Experts have warned for months that the logjam was inevitable. But the extent of the problems is taking by surprise...

Nearly a half million Californians enrolled in Obamacare health plans through the end of December, according to data released Monday. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said 498,794 Californians picked health exchange plans, which gives the state 23 percent of the nearly 2.1 million enrollments nationwide. Considering the state has about 12 percent of the nation’s population, California has been more effective than other states in enrolling residents. The state has nearly met the lower threshold of predictions that call for 500,000 to 700,000 Californians to buy policies by March 31. “There is a feeling of optimism here...

A spokesman for California's health insurance exchange says enrollment action is heavy during the deadline day to sign up for coverage that will start Jan. 1. Covered California set Monday as the sign-up deadline and had no current plans to extend that by another day. The Obama administration announced it was extending the sign-up deadline through Tuesday for the 36 states using the federal health insurance exchange. California runs its own exchange under the federal Affordable Care Act. Agency spokesman Larry Hicks says the enrollment website has been running smoothly with no technical problems and that Covered California was expecting...

This shouldn’t be a problem. I mean, the cut-off for selecting a plan in order to be covered in January is five whole days from now (even as some insurers are complying with the administration’s menacing “suggestion” to extend payment deadlines): Adding to consumer confusion ahead of a major enrollment deadline, California’s health insurance exchange sent flawed eligibility notices to nearly 114,000 households due to a computer error. The Covered California exchange said the letters sent from Nov. 22 to Dec. 7 had blank spaces or missing information on people’s eligibility for insurance or federal premium subsidies. “The letters would...

"....Obama shut down the federal government rather than delay UFA's individual mandate provision though he keeps exempting new favored blocs and delaying various provisions. Instead he's cranked up the propaganda machine, particularly the stuff aimed at the young. The efforts have been ridiculous, a clear sign, I suppose of how little regard he has for the intellectual capacity of those who voted disproportionately for him (a point on which he and I are in rare agreement}.By way of example, HHS named as a winner of their video propaganda outreach one entry which is titled "Forget About the Price Tag."In a...

Without seeking anyone's permission, government workers at Covered California took it upon themselves to give insurers the names and contact information for tens of thousands of Californians who came on the web site to check out their health care options -- but left without purchasing insurance.

Some Californians whose policies have been canceled are finding relief in a surprising place: from insurance companies that aren't offering plans on the new Covered California marketplace. Earlier this year, Aetna announced it would bow out of the state's individual market, effective Dec. 31. Cigna is staying, but isn't offering any products on the exchange. Right now, both companies are accepting new customers into pre-Affordable Care Act plans. Aetna plans are available to Costco members only until Dec. 15. Cigna is offering pre-ACA plans through Dec. 23. Anne Gonzales, a Covered California spokeswoman, confirmed that a carrier not offering plans...

ObamaCare: California's health insurance exchange has decided not to allow insurance plans that do not meet the law's standards, rejecting the president's attempt to rewrite the law through executive action. Recognizing the impracticality and illegality of President Obama's proposed "fix" for insurance policies canceled due to the Affordable Care Act's coverage mandates, the board of Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange, voted 5-0 against extending the 1 million California health care plans that were dropped under the law. The Golden State follows several other blue states — including New York, Washington, Rhode Island and Minnesota — that announced they...

About 115,000 Californians whose individual health plans were set to expire at the end of the year will be given the option to extend their coverage though March 31. Those with individual plans issued by Blue Shield of California Life & Health Insurance Company will be allowed to retain their plans for an extra three months regardless of whether they purchased the coverage before the March 2010 passage of the federal health care law - the cutoff for "grandfathered" policies. Nearly 600,000 Californians who buy their own health insurance are bracing to pay more for new plans in large part...

Readers had lots of questions in response to my columns last week on the Affordable Care Act, especially about what constitutes a household. I'll answer them below, but first remember that under the law, a household generally includes anyone listed on the same tax return. To determine whether you are eligible for a tax subsidy when buying health insurance on a state-run exchange (such as Covered California), you generally must include the income of everyone on the tax return. One exception: If a dependent on the return earns income, but not enough to file his or her own tax return,...

Tana Elizondo of Central Valley Life & Health Benefits, Inc. speaks at an education seminar held for Obamacare at the Comfort Inn on Thursday. HANFORD — Obamacare may be taking a beating in some Kings County circles, but there was support from the small audience that attended an education seminar this week. The workshop Thursday night at the Comfort Inn was hosted by Tana Elizondo and Linda Carter, co-owners of insurance brokerage Central Valley Life & Health Benefits, Inc. Elizondo and Carter went through the training to become certified insurance agents under Covered California, the Obamacare exchange set up for...