Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

This really is a full service blog.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

People are weird.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

We still have time to mess this up!

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Books are my comfort food!

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

In my day, never was longer.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Let there be snark.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

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Okay folks, open enrollment closes in seventeen hours for Healthcare.gov.

If you are eligible and not signed up, please sign up. E-mail me if you’re getting stuck. I will see if I can help you out.

This is important to both protect yourself against getting hit by a meteor and to create actual facts on the ground instead of alternative facts as the shit show continues.

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26Comments

  3. 3.

    MomSense

    We are bumping into a big concern in Maine. People are signing up on the exchange and getting a message saying that their adult and/or college attending children are being referred to Medicaid. The problem is that we are a non-expansion state so these adult children will not be covered under Medicaid. The state seems to be slow walking this process so parents are trying to find out if their kids are covered and now worried that they won’t be able to insure them once the state finally kicks them back.

    The other problem is that these adult children are either paying out of pocket for physicals or having to sign up for very costly insurance at their colleges because they are still in limbo.

  4. 4.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    I am currently covered by employer health insurance. This will change in June as I plan to restructure my work life. So what are my options? I can’t lock in anything now, can I?

    FYI I’m in PA so we don’t have a state exchange, we get directed to healthcare.gov

  5. 5.

    David Anderson

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: When you lose your insurance through work you will have two options.

    1) COBRA where you pay 102% of the premium of your current policy.
    2) Special enrollment period on Exchange (assuming the Exchange is still operating)

    If you’re under 55 and healthy, Exchange is probably cheaper for you in most circumstances even if you don’t qualify for a subsidy.

  6. 6.

    Proudgradofcatladyacademy

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Hi. I work in HCE for UHC so I think I can answer this. For now, because with the regime it may change, You would call the Marketplace and ask for a Special Enrollment Period or SEP as you had a life change or financial change. I recommend calling in May by the 2nd week at latest because billing issues happen.

  7. 7.

    Proudgradofcatladyacademy

    @David Anderson: Slow Typer on my phone! Forgot about COBRA, it’s generally so expensive I just direct people to the exchange. But it is an option that needs to be mentioned.

  9. 9.

    J Michael Neal

    I’m pissed as hell, because I just found out yesterday that the Medicaid expansion has determined that I made too much money to qualify, so I’m now shopping for a plan on the MNSure exchange. Because my employer offers a ridiculously crappy grandfathered product that somehow qualifies as insurance but does not actually act as insurance, I’m not eligible for a subsidy. And I cannot find any plan on the exchange that includes my doctor in its network; I tried calling his office to ask if they are in the network for any of the plans offered on the exchange, and the woman there says she has no idea.

    I am angry beyond words.

  10. 10.

    ProudGradofCatLadyAcademy

    @J Michael Neal:

    What region are you from in MN? I did some work on MNsure awhile back, let me see if I can help with your network issues. You can email me.

    I am home today so whenever is good.

  14. 14.

    J Michael Neal

    No, I haven’t thought about which plan, since my main concern was finding one that my doctor was in. However, it looks like I may just squeak under the limit for Minnesota Care, since I have about $7,000 worth of expenses from publishing my novel that I can use to offset income.

  15. 15.

    ProudGradofCatLadyAcademy

    Well, I plugged in some numbers at MNsure, and came up with some silver plans, and am on the phone with a contact I have in Medica right now you want me to continue?

  16. 16.

    bertinTX

    I am a first-time commenter, long-time lurker, with a question about the ACA signup. I am in Texas, with a 22, soon to be 23, year old son on my employer-provided health plan (I’m a public school teacher). Should he sign up for this open enrollment?

  18. 18.

    J Michael Neal

    @ProudGradofCatLadyAcademy: Thank you, but I don’t think I need the info, since I just signed up for Minnesota Care. The funny thing is that, unless things have changed in the last 12 months, I know my doctor is covered by MNCare, as well as Medical Assistance. It’s only once I go to the private plans that the network narrows beyond him.

  20. 20.

    ProudGradofCatLadyAcademy

    @ J Michael Neal it’s no problem, I do this a lot for people I like. Those networks can be so tricky, when I worked Behavioral, people would say “But it’s UHC insurance, why is my doctor suddenly not in Network now that we are covered by my plan at Raytheon when she was in network when we were under my husband’s awesome railroad union sponsored plan?”

    It’s a tough conversation to have when the substance abuse facility just charged them OON rates and their son is getting kicked out because they can’t come up with the OON charges.

  21. 21.

    David Anderson

    @bertinTX: Good question — how much is adding him to your employer plan costing you? Is he a high cost person or a typical 23 year old with the major risk to his health is bad luck and bad judgment? How much does he make?

    If you’re happy with the plan that you have at work AND what it costs you, spend 5 minutes looking at HC.Gov to see if there is not an amazing deal, but don’t worry too much.

  22. 22.

    bertinTX

    Given my family situation with a daughter and wife already on my plan, it looks like I should just sit tight. My premiums won’t change if I drop him from my plan. I was worried about his ability to show continuous coverage in case the ACA gets totally gutted, but his being on my plan would show continuous coverage, correct?

  23. 23.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @David Anderson:
    @Proudgradofcatladyacademy:
    Bottom line, you confirm what I suspected which is that there’s nothing to be done now, and all I can do is hope the exchanges still exist in May/June.

    I’d already been budgeting for COBRA as the worst-case scenario but that’s only temporary, right? I vaguely thought it was 90 days, guess it’s time to check.

  24. 24.

    ProudGradofCatLadyAcademy

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    18 months I believe. Dave would know more, I worked more on the Financial services side-FSAs, HSAs, and a bit in Behavioral Health for Employers and now Healthcare Exchange for eligibility. As always, I have friends on the COBRA side I can ask if you would like.

  25. 25.

    thruppence

    I currently have coverage with Kaiser Permanente through Covered California but I have to move (suddenly) to Colorado. Kaiser is there too but different regions have different plans and I can’t get any Colorado phone tree to recognize my ID and I can’t get through to a human being.

  26. 26.

    workworkwork

    Since the ACA saved my life last year, I re-enrolled as soon as I possibly could. My premiums went up but still not as expensive as COBRA.

    Just got my annual physical today.

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