The White House’s big push for ObamaCare is meeting resistance from insurance specialists who are telling clients not to sign up until the system’s gaping flaws are fixed.
“There’s still a lot of technical issues. There’s been sparse information and education,” said Robert Vidal of the Manhattan-based Professional Group Plans, representing 5,000 brokers and tens of thousands of customers.
“We’re cautioning customers to be a little patient. We’re telling people to wait at least a month or more for the state to work out the glitches.
Vidal said right now it’s difficult to compare the cost and services of the different medical plans on the New York Health Exchange Web site (benefitexchange.ny.gov).
The site doesn’t provide a listing of the doctors and hospitals included in the various plans.
Those shopping for coverage offered by nine separate plans have to call each carrier directly or visit their individual Web sites to get comparison data.
“It’s going to take some investigating,” Vidal said.
Brokers are key players in helping small business owners and their workers obtain coverage.
Vidal predicted that businesses with 10 or more workers would try to get small- group coverage, while firms with just a few employees would push workers to apply as individuals so they could qualify for subsidies.
Another Manhatan broker, Jason Silverman of Total Capital Planning, also stressed there’s no reason to act immediately.
People have until Dec. 15 to file for new policies that go into effect Jan. 1.
“There’s no rush. There’s plenty of time to make a decision. The whole process will be smoother,” Silverman said.
Silverman’s firm represents small businesses as well as 1,000 self-employed sole proprietors, whose specialized small-group policies have been eliminated under the Affordable Care Act.
That’s forced the self-employed to go into the individual marketplace.
Despite all the hoopla surrounding the rollout of ObamaCare on Oct. 1, many Americans still aren’t familiar with the system’s basics.
A new Gallup Poll found that 71 percent of uninsured Americans — the primary target group for the exchanges — say they are “not too familiar” or “not familiar at all” with the new health exchanges.