Contact us right away! With an ACA plan, you only have 60 calendar days to enroll in a new plan – otherwise you will be stuck without insurance until the next Open Enrollment period. Under Medicare, the timelines may look different, so don’t delay!

Yes!

For ACA plans, as long as you have a valid Special Enrollment Period or during Open Enrollment, you may purchase a plan even if your employer offers one. However, most likely you will not qualify for any financial assistance if your employer offers a plan to you.

For Medicare plans, it is a bit more complex. We will need to compare your current coverage to your employer’s coverage to determine whether or not it is creditable, and how that will affect your Medicare coverage in the long-term.

We are happy to provide a full cost analysis to you, just contact us!

For Individual ACA coverage: Check out our glossary of insurance terms, as well as our overview of health insurance to get some basics.

For Medicare coverage: Check out our Medicare 101 guide , and our Medicare cost overview to get some basics.

Ready to enroll or have more questions? Contact us!

Outside of Open Enrollment, if you don’t have a valid Qualifying Event, there’s very little chance of getting an ACA or Medicare plan. In 2019, short-term plans became unavailable in Colorado too.

Depending on your health status, you may be able to get a limited liability policy or an accident policy, but be warned: these plans do not follow the ACA rules. That means they may exclude things like preventive care, prescription drugs, or coverage for pre-existing conditions.

It is still worth contacting us to see if there’s any other options available to you. Please let us know your situation so we can do a full analysis.

Special Enrollment Periods (or SEP’s) are a bit complicated to explain. The federal government and the state Division of Insurance have set up rules and
regulations on all of the SEP’s available, under both Medicare and ACA plans.

For ACA plans: Outside of the annual Open Enrollment Period (November 15th-January 15th of each year), the only way you can purchase an ACA compliant insurance plan is if you have a valid Special Enrollment Period.

For Medicare plans: You may apply for a Medicare Supplement anytime (however, keep in mind that if you do not have a guarantee issue right, you may be asked medical questions to determine eligibility). Prescription Drug plans (Part D) and Medicare Advantage plans (Part C) can be shopped for only during the Annual Election Period (October 15th through December 7th of each year) unless you have a Special Enrollment Period.

Each SEP has its own rules on the deadlines to enroll in the plans, which is why we want you to contact us as soon as you can once you find out you have a life change.

Life Changing Events that may qualify you for a Special Enrollment Period:

• Getting Married
• Getting Divorced
• Having a baby
• Losing your coverage (must be qualifying coverage, and cannot be due to nonpayment)
• A change in Immigration/Citizenship status
• A change in Incarceration status
• Moving to Colorado
• Changing zip codes