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Applying for Health Insurance: Then and Now

2013-10-08 · explainer · John · 6:05 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook, self promotion

John applies for health insurance twice, through the glitchy new Affordable Care Act exchange and through a pre-ACA private application; he concludes the exchange was more than twice as fast and far less intrusive, so buying insurance has gotten dramatically better.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Plan: apply for health insurance twice, via the ACA exchanges and via pre-ACA private insurance

  • ★★★ John says he will apply for health insurance twice: through the exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act and through the pre-ACA private insurance options, which still exist. — 00:00:00

00:00:26 — ACA exchange: repeated sign-up failures, room-service gag, account created, family details, submit

  • ★★ Starting at 1:11 p.m. via Google, John's exchange sign-up repeatedly fails ('please wait', 'sign up unsuccessful', 'system is unavailable'); five minutes in he calls it a little underwhelming. — 00:00:26 · Google
  • ★★ Once he has an account, John enters himself, his wife, his son Henry and his new baby, and finds the questions easy to answer. — 00:01:35 · Sarah Urist Green, Henry Green, Alice Green

00:02:04 — 49 minutes in: identity verified by driver-licence photo; switch to the private application

  • ★★ At 2 p.m., 49 minutes into the ACA application, John has uploaded a photo of his driver's license to verify his identity before choosing a plan. — 00:02:04

00:02:34 — Pre-ACA private application: voidance warning, driving, pregnancy, diagnoses, drinking, hospital stays, ten years of medical history

  • ★★ The pre-ACA private application warns that incorrect or incomplete information may void coverage or lead to claim denial, which John calls the really scary part. — 00:02:34
  • ★★ The private form asks about moving violations, pregnancy, diagnoses including mental or behavioral disorders, and drinking over 14 drinks a week; John answers with jokes. (playful) — 00:03:03
  • ★★ John says the private application is fully 25 pages, its language makes his head hurt, and he must look up different doctors' phone numbers. — 00:04:06
  • ★ Listing hospital stays and surgery, John names his orbital cellulitis, his wife's hospital stays for the births, and his gallbladder removal. — 00:04:06 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★ John says the old-style application requires listing every doctor visit and medical test for the whole family in the last 10 years, with any abnormal results. — 00:04:33

00:04:55 — Summary: no insurance either way, but the exchange was more than twice as fast and less intrusive; buying insurance has gotten dramatically better

  • ★★ At 4:13 p.m. John considers his medical history finished after 2 hours 16 minutes, skipping the information-practices fine print he doesn't understand. — 00:04:55
  • ★★★ John sums up: he got insurance in neither case, but even with the server errors, applying through the ACA exchanges was more than twice as fast as the old way. — 00:04:55
  • ★★★ John says the new way is also much less confusing and intrusive: the old way listed every doctor visit, the new one asked only whether he smoked. — 00:05:24
  • ★★★ John says the only fair comparison is buying insurance before the ACA, not buying a DFTBA.com poster, and as far as he can tell it has gotten dramatically better, though the government needs new servers. (hedged) — 00:05:24 · DFTBA Records

00:05:54 — Sign-off; maybe a bonus video; the shutdown has thrown off the schedule

  • ★ John says he might post a special bonus video before Friday, since the government shutdown has thrown off the Vlogbrothers schedule. (hedged) — 00:05:54 · Vlogbrothers

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In the description John says it is too soon to tell which option will be cheaper or offer the best coverage; he wanted to compare the still very glitchy exchanges with the pre-ACA experience. (unsure) — video description
  • ★ John acknowledges the video runs over four minutes, says he thinks it counts as an educational video, and leaves viewers to discuss it in Our Pants. (hedged) — video description · Four-minute rule

Humor (significant)

  • After entering his name for the third time, the site asks for his first name again. — 00:00:50

    “Do I know my first name? I mean, at this point, I almost have it memorized.”

  • Frustrated by the failing site, John orders room service on camera. — 00:00:50

    “No, no, no, I don't like mayonnaise. No mayo, yeah.”

  • The ACA form asks him to confirm that no one on the application is incarcerated. — 00:02:04

    “Unless Henry has done something in the last couple of minutes.”

  • The private form asks for details of any moving violation in the medical history section. — 00:03:03

    “because, of course, that time I rolled through a stop sign is part of my medical history.”

  • Asked whether anyone drank more than 14 drinks a week in the last five years, John says yes. — 00:03:32

    “During the week of the Indianapolis 500.”

  • The diagnosis list reaches 'mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder'. — 00:03:32

    “Oh, I was on a good roll till you got to mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder.”

  • The form asks whether anyone had surgery or discussed surgery. — 00:04:33

    “I mentioned it in conversation.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Affordable Care Act · Health insurance marketplace

Also: People: Alice Green · Henry Green · Sarah Urist Green

Projects: DFTBA Records

Organizations: Google · Tumblr

Concepts: orbital cellulitis

Places: Indiana

Events: 2013 United States federal government shutdown · Indianapolis 500

Products: Diet Pepsi

Only in the description or credits: Four-minute rule · Our Pants

Also centred on Affordable Care Act: Adorable Puppy Explains Health Care Bill · Bigger Pizzas: A Capitalist Case for Health Care Reform · The Lowdown on the Shutdown · Is Obamacare Working? The Affordable Care Act Five Years Later · Understanding Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's Health Care Reform Proposals · Why Can't America Have a Grown-Up Healthcare Conversation?

Also centred on Health insurance marketplace: New Album, New Channels, New Fabric, New Internet Thing! · Is Obamacare Working? The Affordable Care Act Five Years Later

Later videos replying to this one

Part of an exchange of 8 videos, 2013-10-08 – 2013-11-01.