So I picked a plan and signed up and I thought I'd share my experience about it.
I looked through all of the plans, and as I've mentioned previously, I decided on continuing to pay the same I'm paying now and upgrade my plan. We've spent enough on healthcare in the last few years that this seemed like a good idea. So thanks to Emily Cat, I decided to go directly through Moda's website and purchase the plan. However, since the plan we thought we wanted was an exchange plan, they had to run me through an agent. I submitted my email and a few days later an agent contacted me. I had him check again to make sure there weren't other carriers with better deals, and when Moda's still seemed like the best deal, we went forward. As it turned out, the plan I wanted wasn't an exchange only plan (it's a misconception that only exchange plans can be purchased). He told me that the Oregon exchange is STILL not functional and that this was a cause for concern.
http://www.koin.com/news/oregon/cover-oregon-hiring-400-temp-workers
As they say here, they are ramping up on call center workers to input the applications manually.
My agent asked me a total of THREE questions. My age, whether I smoked, and my SSN. Same for my wife. No questions about health, pre-existing conditions, or prior coverage were necessary. It was amazing, considering that in March, we had to fill out 3 separate applications only to find out that Mrs. Unabogie could not be covered at all, and that we had to go through that SOCIALIST Oregon state coverage.
The next step is that Moda will send us our enrollment packet, we'll pay the first premium, and starting January 1st, we'll be on a gold plan.
And as I keep mentioning, we'll be paying less than we are now.