How to Access the Affordable Care Act Insurance Exchanges

With the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) insurance exchanges scheduled to go live in a few days, the media have been fixated on making sure that nobody misses a single punch thrown by the politicians fighting over this issue. So they’ve pretty much dropped the ball on telling people how to find the information they’ll need to shop the exchanges. Just today, I read two stories, one from NBC News and the other in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, breathlessly reporting how rates for coverage are shaking out on the exchanges. But neither told readers how to access the exchanges.

So, as a public service, here’s how you do that. Go to Healthcare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596.  The site or the reps will walk you through the process of finding what you need to know about rates and plans on the exchanges.

You’d think that you’d be able to get that information from Georgia’s Office of Insurance, presided over by Commissioner Ralph Hudgens. But you’d be wrong. Having decided for reasons of his own to blow off his responsibility as a public official to help people navigate the insurance market, the Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner is blind, deaf and dumb about the Affordable Care Act. So don’t waste your time looking for anything there.

Patch, to its credit, has run two items alerting people to the scammers who’ve come out from under rocks to prey on the unwary and confused about this. And both have included the Healthcare.gov address.  But I think its worth putting out here again.

If, like me, you’re not affected by the Affordable Care Act but know people who might be, please pass this information on. Otherwise, remain calm and carry on. The Republic isn’t teetering on the brink.