I have been trying for the last 3 weeks to enroll in health insurance via the healthcare.gov web site with no luck. Tonight I succeeded!
What I found is that the web site worked fine using Internet Explorer, but did not work for me using Firefox. Once I switched to IE, the process was smooth and painless. I signed up for a Coventry plan and paid the first month's premium in about 15 minutes.
My only disappointment is that the coverage is a little more expensive than I had hoped. When I left my job in Maryland I maintained my health insurance through COBRA for 18 months. The cost was $500 a month. I was hoping to get private health insurance for no more than this. However, the cost of a Gold plan, which pays 80% of costs with a $2100 maximum annual out-of-pocket expense is $515.36 a month. I could have gotten a Silver plan that covered 70% of costs with a $3200 maximum out-of-pocket expense for about $450 a month, but for now I am going to go with the Gold plan.
Since I am self-employed, health insurance costs are tax deductible, so my actual expense will be closer to $350 a month.
