Being newly FIREd in August, this open enrollment season was my first experience with purchasing health insurance through our state exchange. I chose to maintain COBRA coverage through my previous employer through the end of 2019. We had already gotten most of the way toward our out-of-pocket maximum on that plan earlier in the year, and I felt it was unwise to start all over on deductibles with an ACA plan for the last few months of the year even if the premiums would be a bit lower.
When November 1 came around, I was all prepared. I had a letter written about what I expected my income to be in 2020, a set of financial statements all ready to support my estimates, and I got it all submitted the first day of the open enrollment window.
Children in Washington in a family of four are put on Apple Health (our state’s Medicaid program) up to a household income of $6,802 per month (more than $81k annually). Meanwhile adults in that same family are only eligible for Apple Health up to an income of $2,961 per month (less than $36k annually).
I submitted an estimate for 2020 income between these two numbers, which should result in my wife and me on a paid ACA plan and my kids on Apple Health.
All looked well at first. The system let me sign my wife and me up for a subsidized ACA plan, put my kids on Apple Health, and I received insurance cards for everyone for the upcoming year.
A few weeks ago I received a notification that they needed confirmation of my income for the last 60 days from two companies: the employer I left in August, and also the company I spent three days with as a background actor. At that point I had not worked for either organization in the past 60 days. I had collected a letter confirming termination of employment from my corporate job before I left, so I sent that in plus all my pay statements for the acting gig and crossed my fingers that this would satisfy the bureaucrats.
Spoiler alert…it didn’t.
Two weeks later they sent me a notification that they had not received the requested documentation in the required timeframe and so my sons would have their health insurance canceled effective at the end of the month.
Needless to say, I was displeased with this. In response I (gasp) made a phone call. After explaining the situation and waiting on hold for about half an hour while they looked things over, they told me that they had verified my income based on the documents I had submitted, and that my sons should be back on Apple Health.
Fast forward to this morning and I received an email notification from the exchange, with official written documentation of the new change in our status. I logged in to look it over and discovered that not only were my sons added back to Apple Health, but my wife and I were as well! Something the phone representative did must have bumped our estimated income below the threshold, and they didn’t see fit to mention “and oh by the way we’re cancelling your private insurance and moving you to Apple Health.”
Since it’s a holiday I’m not trying to call back now, but you can bet I will be doing so first thing in the morning. Here’s hoping I can get everything resolved before the new year rolls around.