More Cover Oregon problems & OMIP extension

by NW Spotlight

Great KATU segment – worth watching! KATU did a story this week about a man who suffers from heart disease and is currently part of the Oregon Medical Insurance Pool (OMIP) – the high-risk insurance pool for people with pre-existing conditions that is going away because of Obamacare.

The man has been trying to enroll using Cover Oregon before his OMIP coverage expires at the end of the month. He is extremely frustrated after going through many hoops, including not being able to get through on the phones and extremely long wait times (nearly 4 hours!) on the phone once he did. To add insult to injury, he had to listen to the Cover Oregon jingles telling him how great Cover Oregon was while he waited!

The OMIP web site says

“You must choose and apply for your new plan before December 15 and your first premium payment must be received by December 31 if you want to avoid any breaks in health insurance coverage”

but due to the problems with Cover Oregon, the Oregon Health Authority is now having to offer a temporary gap insurance:

“Oregon Health Authority will create a short-term health coverage program for current OMIP members who have not enrolled in replacement coverage by December 31, 2013. The program will be called the Temporary Medical Insurance Plan (TMIP) and will run from January 1 through March 31, 2014.”

One more side effect of the disastrous Cover Oregon rollout.