The ACA still doesn’t exist in North Carolina

In this state, you have only two options if you want an ACA-compliant health insurance policy: Blue Cross/Blue Shield (“BCBS”) and Coventry.

Correction: If you live in one of the 39 counties that Coventry covers you have two options. In the other 61 counties in N.C., you have only one option: BCBS.

But you can’t get a subsidy through BCBS because their website can’t connect to healthcare.gov, and I’ve been told you can’t even get a quote from Coventry. I’ve heard that some people have managed to set up an account at healthcare.gov but I’m not one of the lucky few, and I’ve tried maybe 20 times by now.

Hello, I’ll be guest blogging here

Bill Bryan

My name is Bill Bryan and my wife and I are licensed health insurance agents — and more importantly, certified Marketplace agents — in Raleigh, North Carolina (I use the term ‘Marketplace’ instead of ‘Exchange’ because it’s a more accurate term). Freelancer has invited me to be a guest blogger here, and it’s a privilege to be able to participate. I’ll be writing about what’s happening in the world of the Affordable Care Act in my neck of the woods. In North Carolina, the state decided not to open its own Marketplace, so ours is officially known as an “FFM” for “federally facilitated marketplace”.

There are two insurance companies which will be participating in the Marketplace in North Carolina: Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Coventry. As of today, I’m appointed to represent only Blue Cross/Blue Shield. We’ll be applying for appointments by Coventry next week, and the company for which my wife and I work (we run our own operation but with the support and direction of a bigger agency) assures us that obtaining that appointment will be routine.