The Shumlin Administration is taking steps to minimize confusion when policies under the state’s new health care exchange go into effect on Jan. 1.
Officials say most individuals who have signed up for coverage can avoid many of the potential problems if they pay their invoices as soon as possible.
According to the latest report, roughly 20,000 people have signed up for an insurance plan at the state’s new health care exchange known as Vermont Health Connect. About half of these people have signed up in the past week. That’s why the administration is concerned.
After a person selects a plan, it takes day for them to go through the invoicing process. Then it takes between three and seven days for a paper invoice to be sent out; it takes another week after that to process the payment.
"The way to avoid that kind of situation or shorten that situation is to pay your invoice in full as quickly as you can after receiving your invoice." - DVHA Commissioner Mark Larson
Mark Larson is the Commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access. He said it’s critical that individuals pay their bills by the date listed on their invoice.
If they don’t, Larson said they’ll have to reconcile any medical bills that they might get with their insurance carrier. In most cases, this means the person will have to pay for the service and then be reimbursed later.
“The way to avoid that kind of situation or shorten that situation is to pay your invoice in full as quickly as you can after receiving your invoice,” said Larson.
If there are payment delays, Larson said some Vermonters might not have their specific insurance company policy numbers by Jan. 1. He has some advice for these individuals.
“If they are planning to go to a doctor’s appointment, if they have a prescription that needs to be filled, they can call Vermont Health Connect or their carrier to get confirmation of their policy number,” said Larson. “We’re also encouraging Vermonters if they have an important prescription to fill that it would be good to fill that prescription before Jan. 1 with their existing coverage so that they can know that’s in place.”
While the paper invoice system works for individuals, the on line payment system for small businesses has never worked and state officials say there is no specific timeframe for this function to be up and operating.
