If you or someone you know has no insurance or has not yet re-enrolled in the Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – only two days remain before the sign-up period ends.
That may be too little time to persevere through the “we don’t do that’s” you likely might hear from phone calls you make to get help. But bear up – because consumer advocates say that’s what lots of people are hearing from brokers who’ve lost access to the commissions they once received from insurance providers to help with one-on-one sign-ups.
You won’t need one-on-one help if you’re savvy with computers and can sign up online at HealthCare.gov – and if you already know what you need and have all your information ready.
Mary Headrick, a former Tennessee 3rd District congressional candidate and a certified application counselor and volunteer with the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, says that when Tennessee’s only ACA program provider, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, dropped paying commissions to brokers, it threw one more wrench into the help that would-be enrollees need to get insurance.
The process of helping someone sign-up for a plan takes a full 20 or 30 minutes, Headrick said, and the brokers – who once received a commission for the sign-up and each renewal year – often don’t feel they can simply give their time away.