Private website which give you ACA subsidies in seconds. Please forward.

[vinny9698]

Our Mission
The Health Sherpa is a free guide that makes it easier to find and sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. We only use carefully vetted, publicly available data.
The Health Sherpa is not affiliated with any lobby, trade group or government agency and has no political agenda.
straight from their website.

http://www.thehealthsherpa.com/

[jberryhill]

1. Saw this on CBS news last night, checked it out today

My healthcare.gov account has been "identity verification pending" forever, and I was going to start a new account.

I thought we'd be paying a little more, but it looks like we can get a better deal on a platinum plan for about $100 less a month than we are paying now.

[TheBlackAdder]

2. Private Website - Does That Mean Your Health Records Are Not Protected? n/t

[jberryhill]

11. ROFL

What health records?

[TheBlackAdder]

13. I just went on it.. It just collects your county, desktop info, ages, income.

It's just a SWAG site.

A very vague estimator.

But it has your demographics and income.

[jberryhill]

24. No, it doesn't have my demographics and income

It has a whole bunch of different numbers and combinations I typed in.

[TheBlackAdder]

27. Good for you.. you're not being honest on the site. Others might be.

[jberryhill]

29. Keep digging

Not being "honest"?

Again, you are being a wee bit transparent.

The site provides a calculator which estimates premiums for whatever scenarios a visitor types in. There is no representation required on the part of the visitor that they provide their own zip code, income, status, or anything else.

[TheBlackAdder]

3. I'll Say This -- If It's Not A .GOV Site... You're Taking a Risk! n/t

[Yo_Mama]

6. No risk - no personal data is entered. But ValuePenguin is much more accurate.

http://www.valuepenguin.com/

It's also more complete - you can get plan data and so forth.

[TheBlackAdder]

10. So, without your SSN, Name, Income, Etc... How Does It Calculate Your Federal Discounts?

I went on it...

residents in house, ages, income...


They have your IP address, your computer system configuration and perhaps most of your desktop, since you were the one initiating the conversation.

[jberryhill]

14. OMG, a deep mystery....

The healthcare.gov site VALIDATES that information.

So far, the operators of this site "know" the following about me:

I live in Maine, am single, and make $4800 a year.
I live in Delaware, am married, and make $20K a year.

...and about 10 other permutations I looked at.

My goodness, have you ever used an online mortgage calculator?

So go put in a bunch of different information, and explain to us how the operators of the site are supposed to know which data is correct.

[TheBlackAdder]

17. And when you use those mortgage calculators... you'll get spam mail weeks later.

ROFL

[jberryhill]

19. If you give out your email address, yes

I'm sorry, but you are spreading FUD

[TheBlackAdder]

22. You'll see.

I'm not talking about spam email, though there are ways to get that from your IP info.

[Yo_Mama]

15. By income

There's a graduated series of percents of income that you would have to pay for the second lowest silver plans.

The SS & all that is just for verification on the federal website, and that's the secure info that can lead to problems.

[jazzimov]

4. Website doesn't work for me.

I get a page with raw comma-separated data. Pretty much unreadable.

[Yo_Mama]

5. These numbers are wrong - it goes by individual year, not under/over 49

Just be aware.

[TeeYiYi]

8. It asked me for under/over 49. Also income for subsidies. Good website. ..nt

TYY

[Yo_Mama]

9. That's not how plans are priced

The premiums this website is giving are wrong for most people.

[TeeYiYi]

16. Oh, ok. I misunderstood your comment.

I tried the Penguin website and it is a helpful website. Thanks for that.

The premiums offered were similar between the two sites but I agree that Penguin is probably better.

TYY

[enlightenment]

12. A year or two in age can make a big difference.

Especially for the over-49 crowd.

This website gives only a broad estimate; it should not be taken at face-value. Also keep in mind that this only tracks states that are using the federal exchange, not the states with their own exchanges.

[TeeYiYi]

20. I agree that Penguin is better...

...but I have to say I didn't take either at face value. I was just looking for a rough idea, which I got.

TYY

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

7. Important: Only ESTIMATED subsidies.

While that site is a very fast tool for viewing available policies and a good beginning source, it only provides rough estimates of subsidies.

Health Care shoppers need to know that their own subsidy will only be accurate when they log in to healthcare.gov and provide their own demographic data, or when they inquire by phone or in person.

One of the major issues in this process is that in order to confirm an individual's personal and financial input and provide an accurate estimate of any subsidy, the individual request must be cross-checked with IRS, SSA, Medicare, and individual State data.

The issue with healthcare.gov is that each user who wishes to know final cost must be securely entered into the healthcare database and then that database must interact with all the databases mentioned above. Most likely most of the interfaces to those databases are not even written in the same language.

The site owners are quite correct with their disclaimer, "We only use carefully vetted, publicly available data." Individual quotes require secure use of individual private and secure data.

The site mentioned is a good tool, but only for a rough estimate.

[B2G]

18. How does this make it easier to sign up?

Confused.

[jberryhill]

21. Because you can then contact the insurance company directly

You don't have to sign up through the government, at all.

[TheBlackAdder]

23. Are you kidding? YOu'd better sign up through the government to keep things legit.

You have no idea how you might be manipulated though an insurance carrier if you try and broker it yourself.

[jberryhill]

28. You are a funny one

I am a small business owner and already have health insurance which I purchased myself through BCBS several years ago.

I don't have to do doodly-squat to keep anything "legit", and don't even have to change my plan if I don't see a better deal.

You seem really interested in discouraging people from checking things out, though. I can't imagine why.

[TheBlackAdder]

32. You seem real interested in letting someone go directly to an insurance provider, sans government.

Look at how there were the few insurance companies deceiving customers about what Obamacare offers and what plans are available. Others were canceling policies and then trying to overcharge customers with different plans.

You really seem to want people to go as an independent person, with little negotiation skills and insurance knowledge, to sign up.

I think your behavior is a bit reckless and endangering.

===

That's good you have BCBS... I wouldn't use them as my insurance provider, but that's your option.

[B2G]

25. Then how do you get your susidy?

You don't. It still says right on that site you have to go through healthcare.gov to get a subsidy.

There has never been anything stopping those that don't qualify for a subsidy to directly go through insurers. This is not some big fix-all that some seem to think it is.

[jberryhill]

26. How do I get my subsidy?

Simple. I don't qualify for one. In order to change my plan, I call the insurer.

[jberryhill]

30. "you have to go through healthcare.gov to get a subsidy"

That's simply not true.

You can:

Call 1-800-318-2596

Mail in an application.

Visit a local navigator

[B2G]

34. Same thing

Phone/paper/in person apps all need to be processed by a system.

It might make you feel better to do it manually, but if the system isn't working, those methods won't either.

[jberryhill]

35. The phone system is working fine

What makes you believe otherwise?

[B2G]

36. Because my sister applied by phone over a month ago

and has yet to see any plans or subsidy information. She was told that as soon as they could process her application in the system (they estimated 2 weeks back then), she would get this information in the mail.

So far...nothing.

[TheBlackAdder]

33. Go through the government - play it safe.

There have been too many insurance company scams that are coming out.

Stay protected and have an audit trail with the government.

[Heather MC]

31. According to this Our Preimum is $0.00 with the subsidy

How to Buy
Call CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield at [phone].
Use their menu or ask the operator to speak to someone about purchasing coverage.
Tell them you would like to purchase health exchange coverage, specifically the BluePreferred Platinum $0 for Arlington County, VA.
Follow their instructions to complete the application process.