If you—or someone you know—is without health insurance due to a job change or other life event, you may still be able to enroll in a health plan outside of the normal November–December open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplace.
The life events that allow you to enroll in a marketplace plan for the rest of the year, through a “special enrollment period,” include change in household, change in residency, and loss of health insurance.
- Change in household
Within the past 60 days, have you or someone in your household welcomed a baby, including through adoption or foster care? The start date of your coverage can begin the day your family size increased, even if you enroll up to 60 days after the event.
In the past 60 days, have you gotten married or filed for divorce? Loss of coverage from legal separation or divorce allows you to enroll through a special enrollment period.
Have you experienced a death in your family within the last 60 days? If someone on your insurance policy dies and you are left without coverage, you may qualify to enroll through a special enrollment period.
- Change in Residency
Are you moving to a new home with a different ZIP code? Are you moving to the U.S. from another country? Are you a student moving to or from school? Are you moving to or from a shelter or other type of transitional housing?
You may qualify to enroll through a special enrollment period.
- Loss of health insurance
Within the last 60 days, have you or anyone in your household lost coverage? Do you expect to lose coverage during the next 60 days? If the insurance you lost, or may lose, meets Affordable Care Act requirements, you may qualify to enroll through a special enrollment period. Examples of insurance that meets these requirements include job-based policies, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP).
Other extenuating circumstances that may allow you to enroll through a special enrollment period include:
- Experiencing unemployment
- Obtaining U.S. citizenship
- Transitioning back into society from incarceration.
To help you determine your eligibility, complete healthcare.gov’s screening form.
However, the only way to be certain about your eligibility is to apply. Also, no matter the time of the year, you can enroll in Medicaid and CHIP if you or your family are eligible. For more information, visit www.healthcare.gov.