On January 28th, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to allow uninsured Americans to still apply for health insurance from February 15th to May 15th, 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This allows people who are currently uninsured to be able to apply for health insurance during the Special Enrollment Period without a normally required qualifying life event. This is similar to what happened in 2020 when Covered California extended the COVID-19 special enrollment period through August 31st, 2020 allowing anyone uninsured to apply for health insurance without a standard qualifying life event. Normally, after the Open Enrollment Period ends on January 31st, Californians must have a qualifying life event such as recently moved, lost employer-sponsored coverage, released from Medi-Cal, marriage, divorce, or having a newborn child within the last 60 days to be eligible to apply for health insurance.
In response to the executive order, Covered California has created a new qualifying life event during the Special Enrollment Period to allow those that are uninsured to apply for health insurance through May 15th. There are some additional qualifying life events created such as “newly qualified for app-based driver stipend” which applies to app drivers affected by Proposition 22 as well as an additional qualifying life event called “learned of new state penalty”. These qualifying life events will provide additional opportunities for the uninsured to apply for Affordable Care Act-compliant health insurance throughout the middle of the year when they otherwise would be ineligible.
If you are currently uninsured or will soon lose your health insurance, please do not hesitate to contact us to go over your health insurance options. At Solid Health Insurance Services, we strive to help our clients find the right health, dental, vision, life, and long-term care insurance that best fits their budget and medical needs. Please contact us at 310-909-6135 or email us at info@solidhealthinsurance.com for us to better assist you.