I am fine, thank you. I had foot/ankle injury early in the year. This was likely the cause of a DVT in the area and residual vein damage up through my thigh, a situation which was masked by a torn ligament and a lengthy healing period. There was no pain associated with it, only ocassional then recent persistent swelling prompted a visit to urgent care. Common drug treatment is now a daily routine and all should be good in several more months. Knowing now that I lived for almost 10 months with the real possibility that a vein clot could (and commonly does) result in pulmonary embolism (=death) I have now begun a process of simple medical care and insurance dependency that I've never had to deal with before.

So now I have experienced the real life consequences of having a minor, yet significant, medical crisis to deal with. No hospitalization but a very brief ER visit, nothing other than 2 ultrasounds, lots of lab work, and a half dozen doctor's office visits have cost me about ~$6,000 (in the first month or so, that's all the bills so far) out of pocket in addition to my monthy premiums. Yeah, I haven't reach my deductible yet. <bleh>! The stack of bills, notices of services rendered, etc. is growing daily. Like I said earlier, the cancellation letter of my existing policy is the motivation to jump onto the Obamacare wagon. So far, this looks like this is going to end well for me, and it probably will for many millions of others.

Glad you're ok. Those leg/foot/ankle injuries make you aware of how important every single body part is.

Being bipedal has it's drawbacks. Seems human venous physiology has gravity to deal with and hasn't evolved in such an elegant way.

Tell that to the protester with the hammer and nails.

Created a user account on CoveredCA. Logged out. Logged back in. I'm good.
Total time less than 5 minutes.

APPLY NOW:
Looked at the list of items I'll need to complete the application process. Tax forms, etc.
I'll get some filed documents together and sit down with my wife tomorrow and complete the application and determine our exact elgibility.

On Monday I'll call the lab I use and pharmacy and confirm they will accept the specific plan we choose on the exchange. I expect to be able to submit our completed application then.

The CoveredCA website has tons of info available on every aspect of buying a policy. I will spend some time today reading through explanations of benefits and try to wrap my head around all of this jargon. I admit that in the last 20 years of buying health insurance I trusted our agent although I never fully understood what I was purchasing. Time to change all that.

Some hindsight about finances from the past few years. I run my own business, my wife worked two part-time jobs in 2012. When we have our joint tax return prepared we have taken every possible deduction allowed by law and planned in all good faith to show the least amount of taxable income possible with a goal to (1) pay as little tax as required, and (2), most importantly, show an adjusted income that qualified us for the largest amount through Federal Student Loan Aid applications each year for our daughter's college tuition. Thank you again Federal Government. The downside is that number made it impossible to get our home refi when the rates were crazy low last year. The good news is it puts us in a better income bracket for the amount of ACA assistance.


Where Obama has failed to get the simple message out through all the political media noise : This is about buying quality insurance from private corporations. It's not government bureaucrats between you and your doctor. You see exactly how these private insurance companies compete in a fair & regulated market place. Your family or individual income bracket is the single factor determining how much the Federal Government pays to help make it affordable for you to choose between the available plans <spread the word>

I predict that after January 1st these insurance corporations will be advertising heavily to get enrollment on their ACA plan in the exchanges. They're competing for the same 30 million shoppers nationally, they're going after the same shoppers within states like California that decided to make this thing work on schedule. Policy prices will probably drop in order for those plans with similiar benefits to get in line with each other.

And yes, the blue state (CA) f*cking website works like a charm

Glad you're OK
..wouldn't wanna' lose you.

It is therapeutic for me to be writing all this. Concerns about afforability and access to care has actually taken more precedent than mortality and worries of the universe expanding.

Well..
..once you dot all the "I"s & cross the last "T"
you can go back to The FUN STUFF.. like allowing
the Universe to Continue to Expand come-what-may.

Glad you could do it ... but Dang thanks to Perry, all we have in my state is "CoverURTex- ass" !!

Does that mean you'll be shopping for a plan on the Federal Exchange? or do you have coverage from your employer? 3 million Texans are being denied Medicaid coverage because Perry wants to run for president. If they would qualify for Medicaid then they can still go to the Federal Exchange and get a plan for almost nothing. I've read elsewhere where redstate low income applicants have gotten policies for less than $20/mo.

From Healthcare.gov when you select TX :