what to do....

[KellyHabersham]

*didn't want to post this over on CS because some of my feelings on this topic are definitely more appropriate for Fratching*

To make it short - I can't really afford to buy health insurance without tax credits/subsidies, my understanding is that a person can't get those without buying via healthcare.gov, however.....I'm unable to do this because my state agreed to expand Medicaid, and that is apparently my option. I do NOT want to be on Medicaid for a variety of reasons, and am really not sure what to do.....And just to list a few of the reasons why I'm not wanting to be on Medicaid:

- I have two CDs in the bank, which I believe will count against my income limit.

- I'm not sure that my doctor's office accepts Medicaid, and I definitely don't want to switch doctors.

- the last time I was on it, they gave me a really hard time about providing info on my daughter's father, and that's NOT something she or I want to get into at this point. (saying this because I'd have an easier time qualifying if I claimed her)

[HYHYBT]

I'm not sure if it's OK to ask, but have you tried signing up, not necessarily through that site, but through whichever one your state has instead, or are you going on what you've heard?

[KellyHabersham]

It's definitely okay to ask......Arizona didn't set up our own exchange, so I would use healthcare.gov for anything exchange-related. And, when I signed up, being eligible for Medicaid was the option I got.....although there's so many glitches with that site I wasn't sure.

[violiav]

Have you tried calling them? Though I'm not sure what the wait times are like.

[KellyHabersham]

Well, going by what I've had people tell me online, my savings in the bank supposedly won't count against my income limit because my state has since changed those rules.

And admittedly, it's also a pride issue for me because I've always been the one in my family who needed extra help, and the only one who's ever been on government assistance.

[crashhelmet]

I may be wrong, but my understanding is that you don't have to buy through healthcare.gov to get the subsidies and such. You can contact your local Blue Cross / Blue Shield, Aetna, or whoeever broker and get coverage with the same write offs, subsidies, etc. Healthcare.gov itself is just a brokerage site.

I logged into the site just to compare to my benefits offered through work and I saw options from BC/BS and others. My employer takes great care of us, so our benefits cost less than what healthcare.gov offers.

As for the being on government assistance issue, this is not government assistance. If anything, it's government protection. I can tell you from first hand experience that when I tried to get my own coverage before the ACA passed, I was either turned down or had my quotes quadrupled because of pre-existing conditions.