Enrollment in ACA health plans up from same time last year but sign
Jeffrey Reifman
Jeffrey Reifman   47  a tech entrepreneur who splits  his  time between Washington state and Oregon  has had ACA insurance for four years  and it has covered surgery to remove a benign but potentially dangerous brain tumor and the follow-up treatment. For the third time   he  must find a different health plan because  his  insurer is pulling out of the marketplace.  He  browsed HealthCare.gov until  he  discovered one in Oregon with  his  neurosurgeon and endocrinologist in its network.
But on Saturday  when  he  tried to have the website âproofâ  his  identity so  he  could select the PacificSource plan   he  got a message saying it could not be verified.  He  was told to call the credit-rating agency Experian  with which the government contracts for that part of the process  and share a code. The computer screen did not provide a code  though.
 Reifman  suspects the problem might be that  he  had frozen  his  credit after a nationwide Equifax hack in September. CMS officials acknowledge that consumers cannot complete the online verification if their credit is frozen because that blocks Experian from getting access electronically to their information. The officials said the percentage of consumers encountering this problem is small but did not provide numbers.
 Reifman  said  he  eventually bought  his  coverage directly from the insurer â but  he  is anxious to receive confirmation that  he  has been accepted into the health plan before the deadline.
[TGT] 47  a tech entrepreneur who splits   [TGT]   time between Washington state and Oregon  has had ACA insurance for four years  and it has covered surgery to remove a benign but potentially dangerous brain tumor and the follow-up treatment. For the third time   he  must find a different health plan because  [TGT]  [TGT]   insurer is pulling out of the marketplace.  He  browsed HealthCare.gov until  he  discovered one in Oregon with  his  neurosurgeon and endocrinologist in its network.
But on Saturday  when  he  tried to have the website âproofâ  his  identity so  he  could select the PacificSource plan   he  got a message saying it could not be verified.  He  was told to call the credit-rating agency Experian  with which the government contracts for that part of the process  and share a code. The computer screen did not provide a code  though.
 Reifman  suspects the problem might be that  he  had frozen  his  credit after a nationwide Equifax hack in September. CMS officials acknowledge that consumers cannot complete the online verification if their credit is frozen because that blocks Experian from getting access electronically to their information. The officials said the percentage of consumers encountering this problem is small but did not provide numbers.
 Reifman  said  he  eventually bought  his  coverage directly from the insurer â but  he  is anxious to receive confirmation that  he  has been accepted into the health plan before the deadline.