(I posted this for my friend J)

My wife and I went through the NY State Health website https://nystateofhealth.ny.gov/

There are a few tricks you learn along the way….first register. You don’t have to do it all at once, you can come back.

You will be asked to estimate next years income and based on that you will be provided with a deduction that is taken off the published premium…..don’t freak out because that premium doesn’t show the applied premium deduction. It will show only after you complete the application.

You will be asked to submit some document numbers (for instance my wife is a naturalized citizen, so she needed to provide that info) plus SS#’s.

Each time you look at the plans, until you actually choose one, you have to restart. After a few revisits it becomes easy. We found the most frustrating part was determining a plan, so you really have to figure out what you want based on past history, such as prescription use or child care etc. Try to determine what you spend on the most and what you need medically. Balance that against deductible versus premium.

Looking for a plan that includes your current physician is also a little weird. Our Physician’s office was not all that up to speed as to what plans they accept because there have been so many changes…ask if they accept the insurance company first, if they do, they will most likely accept the specific plan you choose….some physician offices are not aware of some of the different company relationships (like United Health and OSCAR) because they are so new…..we had to educate them…..it took a few calls to straighten that out. The Physician look up function works, but make sure the address is correct and choose the right specialty: General Medicine, etc

The best advice I can give is to not try and do it all at once…..when it gets annoying, stop and come back. Keep a good password record.

The suggestion of finding a navigator is a good one.

We are still waiting for new cards and were told that some companies are behind but will honor the application if you get a confirmation letter which is sent to you in your application account mailbox. Call the insurance company you choose for information. We had to overcome our desire of getting it all done at once.  Now, we feel pretty good about our plan.   J