I should know. I’m one of the many Americans enrolling with increasing speed and success.
When I opened my mail on Monday, what did I find? A shiny new insurance card from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan — for my coverage purchased at Healthcare.gov. It kicks in on January 1, 2014, exactly the way it’s supposed to.
The video below captures how I felt at that moment. Except I was shouting “The new insurance card is here! The new insurance card is here!” (Also, I’m not a jerk.)
But I definitely did the happy-jumping-around thing.
Why? Because I’m covered — and, as I wrote here when I first enrolled, I’ll save as much as $10,000 a year on coverage that’s almost exactly the same as what I have now.
Equally important, it’s proof that the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is working exactly the way it should. I enrolled, I got a new insurance card, and the bill is in the mail this week, giving me ample time to pay by December 23 — the deadline to pay for coverage that begins January 1, 2014. If the bill doesn’t get here soon enough, all I have to do is call the number on the back of my new member ID card to pay by phone. Easy.
Sure, I’ve called Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) a couple of times with questions, and to verify that everything was moving along. When you live with a chronic condition like I do with type 2 diabetes, you don’t want any gap in coverage.
But I give BCBSM big kudos. They’ve been well-informed and helpful. My calls have been brief and successful. And compared to my experiences with them regarding my outgoing small-group coverage, the customer service has been 100 percent better.
That’s why they call it healthcare reform.
BCBSM gets it. The hundreds of thousands of people who are already enrolled in private coverage through the Healthcare.gov marketplace get it.
You can get it, too. You can sign up for coverage through March 15, 2014, to avoid any penalty for not having insurance. Even if you already have individual insurance, check out what’s available on the marketplace. You may just get a better deal. Then you can do a happy dance, too.
[Photo by Amy Lynn Smith.]
