The special enrollment period is officially over, ending on August 15th however, Cobra coverage special enrollment period is still open. If you are receiving Cobra, as we discussed a few weeks back, the rescue plan allows for the Cobra benefits to be paid from April 1st through September 30th. This means you should have $0 premiums for your Cobra coverage. If you’re haven’t had that experience, you may want to reach out to me because it means your case is not being handled correctly. You should have received a letter from the Cobra administrator that you do not owe a payment during this period of time. You may have made a payment in April, and premiums are then $0 until the end of September, meaning that they’re applying it to October.
This week, I wanted to talk specifically about the special enrollment period for Cobra coverage. Once this subsidy is up in September, you have 60 days to make changes to your coverage. This rescue plan subsidy qualifies as a special event (special event circumstances were addressed in a previous blog post – they allow for changes to be made outside of the open enrollment period at the end of the year). Many people do not realize they have this 60-day window to make changes once the rescue plan time period is over. These changes could be to either keep your current Cobra plan as it is or to look at other options. You will start paying your premiums again from October, up to the full 18 months that you’re eligible for Cobra. If you do not want to continue Cobra, or if you want to look at other options, then you need to reach out to me so that we can evaluate what your needs are to see if Marketplace options are a better choice for you.
If you qualify for some other subsidies, that may be a less expensive option. You may want to opt for a private PPO if you’re pretty healthy or have little health expenses coming up. My job is to evaluate all the options available to you and see which is the best fit for you. If you want to discuss your choices, please schedule an appointment with me on my website.
