Do I have to sign up for ACA today if last day is 12/28?

[Fru-Gal]

Do I have to sign up for ACA today if my last day of work is 12/28? Thanks!

[dblaace]

Do I have to sign up for ACA today if my last day of work is 12/28? Thanks!

Yes, today is the deadline to start coverage on 1/1/22

https://www.healthcare.gov/quick-guide/dates-and-deadlines/

[Fru-Gal]

OK thx. I thought a job ending was a qualifying event.

[Paul der Krake]

Job loss is always a qualifying event, but there is a practical processing delay. If you were to sign up on December 28, there is absolutely 0 chance the paperwork would get done in time to have you covered by January 1.

If you were to sign up, say, on December 20, well maybe if the insurance company is responsive, but you're taking a risk. Long story short: sign up today.

This is why I always recommend people make their last day early in the month, if possible. Most employers cover departing employees through the end of the calendar month, which leaves time to sign up, get processed, clear up any hurdles, and not have any lapse in coverage.

[reeshau]

OK thx. I thought a job ending was a qualifying event.

It probably is, if your health care was through that job.  You still would need to apply by today, though, for Jan 1. coverage.  If you applied afterward, the ACA plan wouldn't start until Feb 1.  You could take COBRA coverage from your workplace to make up the difference.

https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage-outside-open-enrollment/special-enrollment-period/

[SailingOnASmallSailboat]

You sign up and can designate the date the insurance coverage begins. If you want it to start January 1, then yes, you need to sign up today (for all reasons listed above).

Just because your job ends December 28 doesn't necessarily mean your insurance ends that day - often it's a monthly thing, but worth checking. If your insurance DOES end December 28, then you will want to make sure you get coverage starting then.

We had insurance through the end of January 2021 though DH's last day was the end of December (he used up his PTO in January and insurance went through the end of the month). Our ACA plan started Feb 1.

[Fru-Gal]

I had ACA before my job. Now I remember why it was such a drag. I did the application (I had already run the numbers previously) and everything looked good, though it kept freezing and came up with a weird result for income ($46k for family of 4 instead of about $80k). Now it says the bronze plan is $1600 a month instead of $0 and it's booting my youngest off into a different plan, and it also wants proof of income for my kids. So something went wrong, and to fix it I have to appeal. Sigh.

[dblaace]

I had ACA before my job. Now I remember why it was such a drag. I did the application (I had already run the numbers previously) and everything looked good, though it kept freezing and came up with a weird result for income ($46k for family of 4 instead of about $80k). Now it says the bronze plan is $1600 a month instead of $0 and it's booting my youngest off into a different plan, and it also wants proof of income for my kids. So something went wrong, and to fix it I have to appeal. Sigh.

I had to change my income and the only way to do that is to start over from scratch. I deleted the application and then started a new one.

[Fru-Gal]

No option to delete. Thanks for the reminder, I checked my exit document from megacorp, and healthcare ends on last day of work.

[ResolLaTot]

A couple points to keep in mind that may take the pressure off:
1. You are correct, leaving employment is a qualifying event. So no, your deadline is not today... I think you have 60 days.
2. You do not need to elect cobra before an incident occurs requiring coverage (within those 60 days). So you can roll the dice with no consequences.  If some major health issue crops up requiring immediate/costly care before your ACA is ironed out, you can back pay Cobra to continue your old coverage.
3. I used an insurance broker. He was great. He handled the application process with ease where I struggled to navigate the online obstacle course. And note, I consider myself fairly adroit, I've worked as a web developer ffs.  He also took stock of what doctors, hospital systems, care and treatments I currently use to guide us to a suitable plan. highly recommend a broker.

Don't panic, Your worst case scenario is retroactive trigger of an expensive COBRA plan for a couple months. Likely outcome is getting an ACA plan ironed out by mid-January that is backdated to the first of the year.

[anotherAlias]

Don't panic, Your worst case scenario is retroactive trigger of an expensive COBRA plan for a couple months. Likely outcome is getting an ACA plan ironed out by mid-January that is backdated to the first of the year.

I don't believe they backdate ACA policies.  As I understand it, even during special enrollment, you have until the 15th of the current month to get coverage starting on the first of next month.  After the 15th, the coverage begins the first of the month after next month (in this case Feb)

[ResolLaTot]

@justchristine, that sounds right. Sorry for leading you astray on ACA and backdating, OP.

That said, still don't panic. You are in a qualifying event enrollment period. You are not too late. Just keep working on securing insurance through the exchange.

https://www.healthcare.gov/have-job-based-coverage/if-you-lose-job-based-coverage/

Can a Marketplace plan start the same day I lose my job-based insurance?
No. Marketplace plans take effect the first day of the month after your job-based insurance ends. So if you lose your insurance plan on March 7 and select a Marketplace plan by March 31, coverage can start April 1.

[Fru-Gal]

Thanks for the advice, I will look for a broker.

[iluvzbeach]

One thing to keep in mind, I don't believe you can stop COBRA in order to pick up ACA unless you're at an ACA open enrollment window.  So, for example, let's say you were to stop working on February 15 and employer coverage carried you to February 28.  It's my understanding that if you chose to pick up COBRA come March 1, you couldn't just stop it on July 1 and start ACA at that time.  You'd have to either stay on COBRA until January 1 of the following year or let COBRA window run out before starting an ACA plan.

Your best bet at this point may be to follow through on the appeal and if you aren't making progress with it, then sign up for COBRA before the 60 day window has elapsed but if you do this you'll need to stay on COBRA until you're either eligible for coverage through another employer or until the beginning of 2023.

[Fru-Gal]

I definitely won't *choose* COBRA ($3000 a month), but it's good to know it's there as a backup if something really bad were to happen in the 60 days while I figure out the ACA. I wonder if the same problems I had a number of years ago are somehow still in the system, because it identified me when I set up the application and said I had to use the old profile. I had weird errors going on back then where they misidentified my youngest AND my husband, and generally got everything mixed up, which took months of phone calls to sort out. This time the weird thing is that even though I put in current income it kept defaulting to the old information they had. I will see what a broker says.

Prior to ACA we had catastrophic coverage and used low-cost clinics, so that's an option too. Once I did sort the ACA out back then it was a pretty sweet deal for very good HMO care.