Health Insurance Enrollment - Is this hopeless?

[MrStupidMustache]

Posting under an alternate name since I feel incredibly stupid and stressed about this.

I somehow screwed up my kids' annual enrollment through my workplace plan at megacorp. They have no health insurance, and they haven't since Jan. 1.

What can I do now if anything? The only options I can see are to find a new job - thus triggering a re-enrollment option or to cross my fingers until my wife's insurance can take them, since she has a Dec.-Dec. plan. She is also furious with me.

I feel completely overwhelmed with guilt, but thought I'd put it out there to the group. We live in Connecticut and have a higher household income of around 200k, so I think we aren't eligible for most state programs.

Are we screwed here?

[Paul der Krake]

What does Megacorp's HR say?

[Dollar Slice]

I have to believe that there is a way for independently wealthy people to buy private health insurance whenever they feel like it, or our insurance system wouldn't be the way it is. If you can't get anywhere with HR (I assume you've already tried this) I would try calling a few major insurers in Connecticut or an insurance broker and asking if you can buy it directly from the source. You might pay out the nose for it, or have to double-insure yourself if they don't have child-only insurance plans, but if you're making $200k/yr you should be able to afford it until the next enrollment period.

[terran]

There are a couple of qualifying life events for ACA insurance enrollment that you can control (divorce and moving to a new county or zip code) without changing jobs: https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/qualifying-life-event/

Connecticut is offering a special open enrollment period for the uninsured until April 17th because of COVID-19: https://learn.accesshealthct.com/

[Peachtea]

If HR can’t help and you can’t get private insurance, remember you can pay out of pocket. If you’re  paying out of pocket, ask about cash deals upfront. Use GoodRX app for prescription coupons. I paid $300 through insurance for a prescription that I later found out was $150 out of pocket at the same place (Walgreens pharmacy) with the GoodRX coupon. So stupid. I also learned that visits to CVS Minute clinic, with basic testing, only costs like $70 when even my old insurance charged a ~$25 co-pay (not much of a discount ), and that I once paid a $10 prescription co-pay for antibiotics that were actually only ~$1 out of pocket. So while it’s risky to not have catastrophic coverage, in general it’s more affordable to pay out of pocket for common visits and issues than you would think. Because insurance costs jack up prices. I’m not recommending you skip insurance, just hoping to provide some reassurance if things don’t work out in your attempts to get insured before December.

Also, not sure the age of your kid but if it’s a college student, universities usually offer student health insurance.

[MrStupidMustache]

Thanks all for the good advice. @terran this was a great idea and it was a way for me to sneak the kids into the ACA plan. Thank God. What a stupid system we have.

@Peachtea Everything you wrote is true, and these are good incremental savings tips...but prescriptions and doctors visits are an annoyance, not a threat to our whole stache. The risk of contracting COVID 19 or another serious illness could easily mean bankruptcy, so that's what I was terrified of.

But now that I have bare bones coverage to cover a catastrophic event, it does make sense to do a lot of hustling with regards to drug prices and office visits and all that.

Thanks again everyone.