Open letter to the President

 I was excited about the new healthcare reform. Finally, a reasonably affordable way to get insurance! No more having to rely on an employer to ensure healthcare insurance, an end to the (downright evil) mini-med plans some employers were forcing on the workers! Unfortunately, my experience to date has been far less than positive. As things stand now, my family will be uninsured come January 1st since we "may" qualify for Medicaid; as such, we cannot purchase insurance through the marketplace nor can we afford to purchase it privately.

Below is my second letter to the President of the United States on 26 December, 2013. Well, this is what it should've looked like, before editing it to meet www.whitehouse.gov/contact's 2,500 character cap:


To whom it may concern;

 I have a problem with the marketplace process. I managed to successfully submit application ID#XXX666XXX on 21 November 2013 for my family of four. The web site told me that the state agency "would contact" me. Nope, Never happened. Evidently not going to, either.

 On 5 December I made the first of several attempts to get information - on the marketplace web site chat system. From my experience, every one of the "support people" on the marketplace chat system either knows nothing, or cannot provide simple information that actually supports the process. Finally, on 20 December, I emailed my congressman, the President and the Vice President with regards to this situation.
I was astounded when I received a call from Kendra, a Dept. of Health and Human Services caseworker on Sunday, 22 December. This was followed up by a call on the morning of 24 December from caseworker Maria, who said she would try to get to the bottom of this. Early this afternoon (26 December) I received a call from another HHS worker named Brian. He advised that "expediting" this matter would require submitting an application directly through the healthearizonaplus.gov web site.

 You have got to be kidding me?!? The department of Health and Human Services waits until a business day after the deadline for January coverage to inform someone that a new application needs to be submitted through the state?!? After previously discussing this matter with two other HHS employees (one of them on the 24th)?!?

After getting off the phone with Brian, I called Arizona's AHCCCS system (again) and remained on hold for about an hour. I have waited on hold for them many times for that long and never got to a person. Today I got lucky and actually got to speak to someone. I was quickly told that there is "no way for the marketplace web site to submit information through the AHCCCS system." Marketplace support should have communicated this back on 5 December. Every HHS caseworker should know this.

 Two of the last three years, I have had access to only a mini-med policy available to me with an annual cap of $20,000 per insured. One year I had an emergency gall bladder removal and the next year my stepdaughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor and subsequent surgery. Yep, both of them right over the cap in a heartbeat. This last year my employer "allowed" me a buy-up to an actual insurance policy. For only about a third of my gross income, we finally had health insurance again, but I'm now essentially an indentured servant until mid-January when the 2013 premium takes its last payment.

 The new healthcare law should have been my family's salvation from this antiquated and abusive system, but no, now we will simply be uninsured beginning 1 January...And Arizona can take up to 45 days to render a decision once the application goes in.

 While I support the new law, the implementation has been a disgrace.

 Once again, the people this law was pretty much tailored for are simply getting the shaft.

 I guess by now we should be used to it.

    ~Have a happy New Year~

Most Sincerely,

James Tramm