Yes, it’s true. Open enrollment is just around the corner, and it promises to be just as exciting and troublesome as last year. 

Although some improvements have been made on healthcare.gov, the system is still very frail, continues to get bogged down and crashes on a regular basis. In addition, there are more restrictions and requirements that affect all applicants whether they are getting a subsidy or not.

This year, projections are that between 75 million and 80 million Americans will lose their health insurance, as employers decide that group health plans that meet the ACA requirements are simply too expensive.

Imagine 10 times as many people as last year trying to get health insurance through healthcare.gov. Do you really think our government is prepared to handle it?

How Do I Get Signed Up?

You can go to www.healthcare.gov, where you can input some basic information about you, your family and your income and see what plans and subsidies are available to you. If you call healthcare.gov, you might get to speak with a Navigator who can help you figure how to fill out the application. In the past year, having called healthcare.gov multiple times every week since last Oct. 1, I have yet to speak to any front-line or supervisory personnel that were Navigators. I don’t know where they are, but …

A better solution is to contact a federally certified Affordable Care Act broker. Brokers represent several different insurance companies and so really work for you. They don’t care which carrier you purchase insurance from. They are more interested in you getting the best fit for your family so that you will come back to them next year to do it again. They make a living by finding the best product for their customers. There is very rarely any extra charge for using a broker. By federal law, the price of the insurance is exactly the same whether you buy it through healthcare.gov, an online portal like ehealthinsurance.com or a local broker.

An additional benefit of using a broker is that later in the year, when you have a question about how a particular claim is being handled, your broker can represent you with the insurance company. A Navigator cannot represent you as they do not have an insurance license.

But I Already Have an ACA Plan and I Was Told I Could Just Keep It

Do you remember the last time you heard “If you like your plan you can keep it—period”?

Here is list of things that may change under your current plan without you being aware of it.
1. The doctors who accept your plan
2. The hospitals that accept your plan
3. Your premium, your subsidy or both (And if your tax credit is too large, you may end up owing the IRS more taxes in 2015)
4. Coverage for specific conditions and prescriptions

In addition, in most states, new carriers are entering the online exchange market, where your subsidies can be applied. This will result in more competition between carriers and more products available at lower prices.

Again, another reason to work through an ACA certified broker.