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Enrolling in a health insurance plan can be a daunting task, and if you aren’t aware of deadlines and “Open Enrollment” guidelines, you may have missed your chance altogether. If you missed Open Enrollment or find yourself in need of health insurance outside of the Open Enrollment period, it doesn’t always mean you have to be uninsured for the entire year.
Before worrying too much, you may want to see if you could still be eligible for a Special Enrollment Period (SEP). The special enrollment period is always within 60 days of a Qualifying Life Event (QLE). If you’ve experienced a Qualifying Life Event within the last 60 days, it triggers a Special Enrollment Period, and you may be able to sign up for (or make changes to) health insurance outside of the Open Enrollment period. Understanding which situations are considered qualifying life events will help you make smart decisions regarding your coverage.
If you lose your health insurance coverage outside of the open enrollment period, you could risk a gap in your coverage. Fortunately, special enrollment periods allow you to sign up for a new policy without having to wait until the following “open enrollment” period to begin.
Open Enrollment in Nevada is from November 1st to January 15th each year. If it is not “Open Enrollment” (the one time each year you can buy health insurance or make changes to your existing health plan), you’ll most likely need a “Life Event” to get coverage.
If you experience a major life change, then such a change is often considered a qualifying life event. Such life events affect your existing health insurance coverage and can make you eligible to change your coverage during the special enrollment period which is 60 days from the date of your “life event”.
There are several different life events that will allow you to make changes and/or enroll into a health insurance plan. Loss of health insurance due to a change in jobs, loss of eligibility for Medicaid, ending of your Group Coverage, plus many other changes that result in a loss of health insurance, can be considered a life change. Changes to your family “household” (members on your tax return) may also be qualifying life changes. If you got married, divorced, and lost health insurance, had a child, or lost a family member due to death, you may qualify for a special enrollment period. Remember though, you only have 60 days to contact your health insurance agent and make a change.
A health insurance agent can help guide you through the process of determining if you are still eligible to apply for health insurance in Nevada. If you’re not, perhaps a short-term health insurance plan may get you by until the next open enrollment period (November 1st through January 15th).
Health insurance, which has always been a topic surrounded by confusion, is doubly complicated as coverage requirements have evolved in recent years. Among the most significant changes was the individual mandate that was put into place under the Obama administration.
Nevada has taken the first steps toward an in-house enrollment site (Nevada Health Link), which would offer a better user experience and significant cost savings over Healthcare.gov. However, some experts see the merit in the switch, others are concerned that it will be a repeat of the 2014 fiasco.
A major medical health insurance plan is a comprehensive medical plan that can help you pay for doctor’s visits, hospitalization, and prescription drugs if you should become sick or injured.
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To qualify for a special enrollment period, you must have lost your coverage due to a qualifying event, and the coverage you are losing must meet certain guidelines. You must also be able to prove loss of coverage to qualify for a special enrollment period.
To prove loss of coverage, you must be able to provide documents that show you have lost your health insurance within the past 60 days or that you will lose your coverage within 60 days.
If your income increases or decreases, this could affect your subsidy amount and eligibility for cost savings programs. Any time you have a change in family size, or change in income, it’s very important you report these to your agent as soon as possible. This allows your agent to continuously match you with an insurance plan that offers the best coverage at the best price for your family.
There are deadlines and coverage consequences with changes. Therefore, it is SO important to keep your health insurance agent up to date on family, income, and life changes. Plus, it helps keep you out of trouble with the IRS.
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If you’ve gotten married, divorced (and lost coverage), you’ve had a baby, or a household member has moved out, then you’ll most likely be able to change your health insurance. This would be considered a qualifying life event. Court-ordered dependent changes are also considered a qualifying life event for health insurance.
Changing where you live could trigger a qualifying life event for health insurance. Moving to a different state, into a permanent residence, and losing your coverage because of the move is considered a qualifying life event. A student who changes residences could also trigger a qualifying life event for health insurance.
If you were eligible for certain types of coverage (such as Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program), but have recently been denied coverage, then you can shop health insurance plans outside the open enrollment period.
Special situations that are outside of the standard qualifying life events previously discussed may take place that would allow you to sign up for health insurance during a 60-day special enrollment period. Such situations are considered complex issues that are subject to review on a case-by-case basis to determine if a qualifying life event has taken place.
Although qualifying life events seem self-explanatory, there are times when such situations would not qualify you to enroll in a health insurance plan with special enrollment period. For instance, while divorce typically is a situation that is considered a qualifying life event for health insurance, it is only such if it results in a loss of health insurance coverage. If there’s no change in your coverage, then this is not considered a qualifying life event.
You are not eligible for a special enrollment period if you lose coverage voluntarily, you stopped paying your monthly premium, didn’t provide requested paperwork to Medicaid, or you didn’t enroll during yours/spouses “open enrollment” period.
The health insurance coverage you are losing must be considered minimum essential coverage. These may include employer-based coverage, most Medicaid plans, Medicare Part A and Medicare Advantage plans, and coverage you may have purchased through Nevada Health Link. An exemption to this rule is if you are losing pregnancy-related Medicaid, Medically Needy Medicaid, CHIP unborn child coverage or a non-ACA-compliant grandfathered plan.
Unsure of whether your life change or income change qualifies you for a special enrollment period? If you need to report a life change or purchase health insurance during an SEP, call Nevada Insurance Enrollment today and speak to one of our health insurance agents. We specialize in getting you the very best rate you are entitled to, creating custom health insurance solutions for individuals and families in Las Vegas, Northern Nevada, or Statewide Nevada.
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As of 12/30/13 the Nevada Health Link has been operating as intended and as far as we can tell, the major problems have been corrected.
Local Las Vegas health insurance agent Shelly Rogers delivers paper applications to the Nevada Health Link for her customers letting them avoid the long lines.
Good news! You can buy an individual and/or family health insurance plan up until 3/31/2014 and NOT get a tax penalty.
Another wonderful animated video from the Kaiser Family Foundation. It gives us a detailed overview of how the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will work.