Enrollment Extension Due to Life Events?
I applied for Medicaid the other day, hoping that I would qualify. I did not but was offered a discount to my health insurance.
I attempted to enroll through Connect for Health Colorado and spoke with someone there who told me that my qualifying event (the loss of a job with health insurance) was more than 60 days ago (which is accurate) and therefore I have no ability to enroll through Connect for Health Colorado.
I am not sure how to obtain the extension, though I presume that because I applied for Medicaid and was denied that I would be eligible for such an extension. I had health insurance through November of last year and so I was not aware that I only had 60 days after its loss to enroll and I did not realize that I would be paying such hefty fees each month for not having health insurance. I don’t make a lot – I can’t afford those fees.
I have looked into short term health insurance, but those do not seem to remove the fee. I can’t pay for both the insurance AND the fee. I barely make ends meet as it is.
I’d just like some help figuring this out. The individual I spoke with at Connect for Health Colorado wouldn’t or couldn’t give me a straight answer she just kept saying that my qualifying event was over 60 days ago. I’d really like to get things set up properly and as inexpensively as possible, but I can’t seem to find anyone to help me do that.
Answer
There are a number of different qualifying events that allow a person to enroll in special enrollment in the health insurance Marketplace. There are also some deadline extensions to take advantage of. Specifically from March 15 2015 to April 30 2015 there is a special enrollment period offered for those who would owe the fee. Your situation is a little unique, but we would 100% suggest learning about the special enrollment opportunity and attempt to take advantage of it due to confusion over how this works and the fact that you will owe the fee.
Also to be clear, a Medicaid rejection letter qualifies you for an exemption from the fee (even though you would have owed it if you didn't have an exemption), but only in states that didn't expand Medicaid. CO expanded Medicaid.