Maybe he'll get a phone call

Some insurance companies that are having to cancel policies due to ObamaCare regulations are reported to be offering their current subscribers an opportunity to “re-up” for their current plans before the end of 2013. This has the effect of re-setting the start dates for those policies to the new enrollment date in late 2013 and thus resetting the anniversary date for those policies to late 2014. This allows the current subscribers to stay on their policies through most of next year: if they like their insurance they can keep it, at least for a little while longer.

After spending some time feeling resentful that my insurance company didn’t offer me that option, it finally occurred to me to just ask my Sales Representative at my insurer if there was any way I could do something like that. It turns out there is, although it’s not as straightforward as I’d like. I’d have to terminate my current policy, go without insurance for at least 24 hours, then pick up coverage again with a new policy. Also - and I need to talk to my Rep about this if I’m seriously considering doing it - I don’t know what happens if my new anniversary date is, say, December 15, 2014. Assuming ObamaCare survives, can I sign up during open enrollment for coverage that will start on that date or will I have to go uninsured from December 15 until my new insurance kicks in on January 1, 2015? I also don’t know yet how much the rates will go up next year on my current insurance. But at least it looks like I can hang onto my current policy for a little longer if that seems like the best option for me.

If I had inexpensive catastrophic health insurance, I’d almost certainly want to hang onto it as long as possible. However, since I live in New Jersey, catastrophic insurance has never been an option for me and so I already have a pretty pricey fairly comprehensive policy. I need to review the ObamaCare compliant offerings and see if there’s one that’s acceptable. Part of that is deciding how important it is to me to keep out-of-network coverage and part of deciding that is figuring out which doctors, hospital, and other care providers are and are not in the available networks. Once I’ve done that and gathered the rest of the information I need about renewals and rates if I do stick with what I have, I can decide what course is best.

I have to admit that even without running the numbers I'm very tempted to hang on to what I have. After all,who knows? Maybe by the end of 2014 everyone will have realized what a very bad idea ObamaCare really is and I can just avoid all those metals altogether.

And now I’m really, truly done blogging for at least a week.

(The title of this post is from the following baseball story:

One day, Jimmie Foxx came to bat with the bases loaded. Catcher Bill Dickey signaled for Lefty Gomez’ top pitch, a fastball. Gomez shook him off. So Dickey called for a curveball. Another shake off. So Bill went to the mound. "What do you want to throw this guy?" "Nothing," Lefty replied. "Let's wait a while. Maybe he'll get a phone call."

So maybe I'll wait a while.)