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Renewing Marketplace Coverage
This year, I was covered under Plan A for part of the year. Then I lost my job and became eligible for Medicaid. I stopped paying premiums and assumed that would automatically cancel my Plan A coverage. Now I’m working again and eligible for premium tax credits and would like to sign up for Plan A again next year, but the insurer says I owe back premium and must repay it before my Plan A coverage will take effect. I can’t afford this amount. What can I do?
Insurers are no longer permitted to refuse to enroll you in a Marketplace plan because you owe back premiums. Report this problem to the Marketplace and to your state insurance regulator and ask their help resolving the problem.
In the future, if you should need to disenroll from a plan mid-year, it is important to actively disenroll and not just stop premium payments. In HealthCare.gov states, you can log into your Marketplace account and select the option to terminate coverage. This will also create a written record that you took this action.