Most people don’t know this, but there is a 60-day special enrollment window for those who have lost their coverage through their employer.
I’ve been coming across a common situation with those who I’ve talked with and it’s this: they’ve lost their job and they didn’t know that they had a deadline to enroll.
When you lose coverage through your employer, most times you should be offered a Cobra or Cal-Cobra option. What this means is you usually have the option to continue to stay covered on the same plan that was offered through your employment.
Usually someone will take one of these actions:
- Enroll on the plan through Cobra (Cobra can be very costly since employers are no longer subsidizing a portion of your monthly premium but if it’s the best option then you should take it.)
- Choose to go without insurance
- Enroll on their spouse’s plan (if available)
Most times individuals won’t think about it and just enroll automatically on Cobra. Sometimes things don’t work out and their premium gets to be too expensive so they stop paying for it. When that happens you are automatically locked out of your special enrollment period.
Oftentimes individuals will take no action and try to enroll on a plan through Covered California well after their 60-day special enrollment period.
If you miss your special enrollment period, you will need to wait until open enroll in order to re-enroll on a plan through Covered California. If you have another qualifying life event, you may have a special enrollment period open up where you don’t have to wait until open enrollment.
Have questions? Need help with enrollment? Feel free to reach out and we can help! Call us at (626)399-7082 or by filling out a contact form and we’ll reach out to you.
