Paige Duhamel Albuquerque, NM created on Thu January 30, 2014

My name is Paige Duhamel and I live in Albuquerque, NM. I am the staff attorney for the Southwest Women’s Law Center. The experience of navigating the online health insurance exchange was bumpy at first. I think I tried to log on the first few days, just to test the system to see if it was working, I didn’t get very far. I kept getting logged off.  But as the news sort of progressed that the website was getting better, I tried again and it also helped to delete my previous application and start a new one. So I started a new one from scratch, and was able to get through the system. I did this in mid December, is when I started through the system again and finally got through to the end to select a plan.

So, the first two years out of law school, I worked for a private, very small law firm. And I didn’t have health insurance because I have a preexisting condition, and either the sort of high risk pool was too expensive or the word of the federal high risk pool didn’t reach the broker I was working with. So I didn’t know about it, and I didn’t get health insurance coverage.

So, during the time I didn’t have insurance I paid for a lot out of my pocket. You know I wasn’t making a lot of money (you don’t make a lot of money as an associate at a small law firm) and I was paying about 300 dollars a month for prescriptions, and it was basically just allergy and asthma meds. And that was problematic for me, it was a drain on my financial resources. Getting health insurance was better for me, once I was able to access that, because I was able to get my prescriptions for $60 a month, still had to pay a $300 month premium, but at least I knew that if something was to happen to me I would be covered.When I started this position at the Southwest Women’s Law center, I got involved with healthcare advocacy work. So, I had to get up to speed very quickly.

Before applying I wasn’t particularly apprehensive about healthcare plans and their costs because I had gone on to the Office of Superintendent of Insurance website and looked at the plan comparison charts, and I knew the plans I was looking at were comparable if not better coverage for health insurance for me, but were 100 dollars a month cheaper. That’s really going to do some great things for my finances. Including the fact that I can get dental insurance for the first time in 8 years.

I received an email confirmation, actually no, I received both. I got a letter confirmation that I was initially enrolled and then I got two email invoices. So I’ve paid two months of premiums thus far.

In order to get my ID number I called NM Health Connections service line in order to get my ID number, because I injured my foot and thought I need to go see a physician. So, I now have that ID number.

If I could give advice it would be that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Not everything is going to be perfect right away. I do understand that people are going to need that coverage on January 1st or February 1st, like myself, I fell down the stairs and hurt my foot and needed to test the system.

The federal website is working better. But, you do need to delete your previous application. You just need to start with a new application or a new account. That’s what did it for me. I know some people are having better luck now.

You hear this won’t be a benefit to younger people, “because the costs are so much higher,” but as a young person it is a benefit to me. I’m seeing plans that are $100 less than what I was previously paying. For people who are younger and with pre-existing conditions their really going to benefit.