April 16th, 2014 – Open enrollment both on and off the exchange closed on April 15th and will not re-open until November 15th, 2014.
People who are still waiting for a Medicaid Determination can still enroll through May 31st.
After April 15th, people may be able to shop for a new plan or change their existing plan if they have a qualifying event. Acceptable qualifying events for ObamaCare compliant health insurance plans appear to differ somewhat on-exchange and off-exchange and may even differ from one carrier to the next.
Below is a list from Connect for Health Colorado of examples of Life Change Events that can help you get new coverage or change existing coverage.
Events that allow CURRENT customers to shop for a NEW plan or CHANGE an existing plan:
- Marriage or civil union
- Birth or adoption
- Change of American Indian/Alaska Native status
- Change of residence(if moving out of a service area)
- Gain or loss of eligibility for the tax credit or cost sharing reduction
- Incorrect or inappropriate enrollment NOT due to a customer error
- A customer demonstrates that their health plan has substantially violated a provision of its contract
Events that allow NEW customers to SHOP for a health plan:
- Loss of minimum essential coverage
- Employer-sponsored coverage becomes unaffordable
- Gain of Citizenship or Immigration status
- Change in incarceration status
- Moved to Colorado
- A customer demonstrates that their health plan has substantially violated a provision of its contract
Events that allow current customers to UPDATE their current plan only:
- Removal of dependent due to divorce/annulment/separation
- Removal of dependent due to child age out(dependent turns 26)
- Removal of dependent due to death
Please note that you can apply up to 30 days before the qualifying event and no more than 60 days after the qualifying event (counting the day of the qualifying event as one of the 60 days), so timing is everything. Let us help you evaluate your plan options available both on and off the Connect for Health Colorado Exchange.
