This is today. It is very clear on the letter I got from PCIP that I cannot buy their extended coverage if I have other coverage. Since the most recent application start date was supposed to be February 1, I needed to make sure that they hadn't sorted it out while I wasn't looking. I checked with Gene, my agent, to see if anyone had been in contact with him. They had not. I decided to call the folks in Seattle to see how it was going. Once again, I spoke with Nora. I told her that I was trying to determine the status of things because I had a bit of a reprieve in that I could buy another month of PCIP coverage. She asked me what PCIP was.
"It's the Pre-existing Conditions Insurance Plan. They're extending it through the end of March." (She works for the Department of Health and Human Services. Why doesn't she know this?)
"Under the new law, all pre-existing conditions have to be covered. That is the new law."
"Yes, I know. Pre-existing Conditions Insurance Plan is the name of the policy. It is a part of the ACA but it rolled out ahead of the marketplace. I've had this coverage for over a year. It was supposed to end in December, but apparently I'm not the only one with problems, so they're extending it through the end of March." (Again, she works for the Department of Health and Human Services. I shouldn't have to tell her this.)
"You have to apply for coverage in the Marketplace before the end of March."
"Yes, I know. But I can't have coverage through PCIP and the Marketplace at the same time. They are very specific that I should only buy the coverage if I don't have other coverage."
By this time, I was ready to start pulling hair. Since I couldn't reach through the phone to grab hers, my own was at risk.
"I'm trying to see how we're progressing on solving the problem to determine whether I should send in the money for the PCIP extension."
She recapped her case notes for me. Once again getting most of the details wrong. I thought that by the time we hung up on Monday that she had corrected most of the errors. Wrong. She still had the original errors in her notes and she even added one. She had my agent's name down as James instead of Gene.
It's really difficult to get these federal employees to get to the bottom line. But we finally got to Nora's. Her bottom line is that she has transferred this out of her database. Someone in Dallas, Texas will handle it now. She couldn't or wouldn't say who. She said if I needed to follow-up on it that I should call Cigna customer service. She had instructed Cigna to research it, but that I should give it a couple of weeks.
Oh, are we back there? I've already spent hours on the phone with Cigna and they have no record of the silver application. And this woman thinks that because a "federal employee" has asked them to "research it" that it will suddenly appear. You know, I just don't believe in magic.
But for fun, I decided to call Cigna. Wait, that wasn't for fun. Some other word maybe, but certainly not fun. And just as I expected, no silver application has appeared. They've still got that bronze one, though. Although they assure me that as of tomorrow that will disappear. I'm not sure whether to believe them or not. They originally told me it would disappear on January 10th and it didn't.
All I know is that I've got until March 15th to get an application through that wretched Marketplace. And based on past experience, I'm not sure that a month and a half is enough time.
I swear this is starting to consume my life. I have cried more about this than two divorces. I'm even considering contacting my congressional representatives. They're supposed to help their constituents cut through the bureaucracy of the federal government. Which one should I call first? Ted Cruz or John Cornyn?
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