Posted on 03/03/2014 2:50:32 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
What happens if you enroll in Obamacare and then decide somewhere down the road that you want out? It’s early days, but here’s one Florida man’s anecdote — and it’s not encouraging.
“People who signed up for coverage are finding it impossible to cancel their plans,” reported Orlando’s WFTL-TV last week in a feature highlighting an Orange County man who, after six weeks of effort, had not been able to extricate himself from the Federal health plan.
“Andrew Robinson was looking forward to getting health insurance through the Affordable Care Act,” explained reporter Lori Brown. “He has a small publishing business and works part time, so he hasn’t had coverage. In early January, he signed up for a plan that cost nearly $300 a month. About a half hour later, he and his wife realized they could barely afford that. They quickly found a less expensive plan through Humana — for $116 a month.”
Whoops. That uneasy feeling you may have had about throwing your personal information into a bureaucratic black hole may have been well justified, if what happened to Robinson is any indication.
“I immediately called back the Florida Blue and asked them to cancel the policy I just set up,” he said. But this isn’t Amazon.com; it’s Obamacare:
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
[H]e quickly learned canceling Obamacare is no easy task. He says Florida Blue told him if he signed up for the other policy, his Florida Blue policy would cancel automatically.
“I got the premium two days later, and it almost wiped out our account.”
More than six weeks later, after spending 50 to 60 hours on the phone, his policy is still not canceled. And he is still waiting for the payment Florida Blue withdrew from his account to be refunded.
“This is like, just taking my patience right to the end; and I am on the verge of just exploding,” Robinson said.
According to Florida Blue, the company can’t cancel Robinson’s insurance until it receives notification from the Federal insurance marketplace that he has, in fact, obtained other insurance to take its place.
And that brings up another enforcement feature of Obamacare that, so far, has been overshadowed by the hoopla over the Internal Revenue Service’s expanded powers: The Federal health care marketplace itself can act as an Obamacare enforcer, tethering people who voluntarily approached the exchange for coverage to their initial decision for a very long time — no matter whether they later wish to exercise their own free will to drop coverage outright, or simply find a better deal somewhere else.
You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.
The only people that have access to my account are for “goesinto” not “goesoutof”.
This begs for a parody of Hotel California. “You can keep your Doc, what a laughing stock!”
Since Obamacare does not apply to me, I do not know all the nuances, but it was my impression that it will be the ONLY health care plan available.
I remember the big lies, “if you like your plan, you can keep it.” “If you like your doctor, you can keep him.”
I am interested in hearing how FReepers are dealing with the fiasco.
That ability of Obama care to withdraw funds from your bank account always bothered me.
The Dims always were harping on the choice the poor had to make between eating and healthcare.
Well thanks to Obama Care they no longer have to worry about that choice. It will always be Obama Care first last and always.
“Hotel California”
Bump!
TOTALITARIANCARE: THE MOST EVIL PIECE OF LEGISLATION EVER FORCED ON THE CITIZENS OF THIS “free” republic. Life (or abort), control (FORCED/CONFI$CATION/IR$), death decider$.
Doesn’t the government have some sort of Consumer Scam telephone number to alert the public?
If they do, they should drop a dime on ObamaCare en masse.
Harry says you are a liar.
LOL! Indeed Obamacare is closer to the roach motel than Hotel California! At least at the Hotel they had “pink champagne on ice.”
Hump one sheep and you are forever known as a sheephumper.
“According to Florida Blue, the company can’t cancel Robinson’s insurance until it receives notification from the Federal insurance marketplace that he has, in fact, obtained other insurance to take its place.”
Well, isn’t that special? Zero-don’t-care is an abomination. Thank you, CJ Roberts.
The Obamacare collaborators have their greedy hands on all that untraceable healthcare income.....fees, penalties, charges*....in league w/ the punitive IRS. Obamacare's a con artist's dream---the thieves can withdraw funds from enrollees' bank accounts, at will.
THIS MADE ME LAUGH OUT LOUD Lock-stepping Dims kept harping on the need for O/Care----they whined about the poor uninsured having to make the choice between eating and healthcare. Now, thanks to the Godzillian monster O/Care, they no longer have to worry about choice. Obama fixed it so that it will always be Obama Care, first, last, and always.
=========================================
* So much money has NOT been accounted for----
<><> the millions paid to CGI for the botched rollout,
<><> mad scientist Ezekiel Emanuel (Rahm's bro) got a BILLION dollars to design this boondoggle,
<><> botched state exchanges got millions and millions, then failed to enroll people.
sorta like the roach hotels..............roaches check in and they can’t check out
These people are all liars. Just ask Harry Reid.
If Mr. Robinson had closed his bank account the minute he got the Humana policy, he wouldn’t have this problem.
Don’t be foolish. No one would ever want to get OUT of Obamacare. It’s such a good deal that there would never be any reason to have a way to get rid of it.
“the company can’t cancel Robinson’s insurance until it receives notification from the Federal insurance marketplace that he has, in fact, obtained other insurance to take its place. “
This is illegal. Just like every other provision of obamacare.
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