Complex Marketplace App – not sure what to do
My wife and I helped evacuate her mother from Ukraine to the US about 7 months ago (VA near DC). That was before the Uniting for Ukraine program – which grants eligibility for Medicaid – so we’ve applied for Temporary Protected Status and EAD/Employment Authorization (which does not allow her to get Medicaid.)
This is “great” because it makes her eligible for insurance through the marketplace, but I cannot figure out two seemingly very important pieces of info – nor can I get any of the “brokers” through the marketplace to respond to me. Please redirect me if I shouldn’t be asking here, but I can’t find out what to do so far. Hoping someone knows some nuances of how this works (or, by all means, direct me to a human being or agency who will actually respond.)
She is married. Her husband supports Russia. He lives in a Russian occupied territory that is unrecognized by the universe. We almost completely have broken off contact since February 2022. He most certainly will not be interested in getting a tax ID number so she can say “married filing jointly,” yet “married filing separately” tells me she won’t qualify for premium subsidies. Also, it pops up a thing to indicate his address (in the US…) Her income is $0, by the way, and she’s 60. Can I just say she’s single? I don’t know WTF to do there. It’s not complete “spousal abandonment” according to the IRS, and maybe pigs will fly one day and they’ll be back together.
What should I select as a document type that confirms her eligibility? Employment Authorization Card is an option, but she doesn’t have one – she has only applied (which to reiterate, grants the ability to apply for insurance on the marketplace.) This is not an option under their “other” option, which opens a sub menu. Only thing I can imagine is typing in “PendingTPSandEmplotmentAuth” in the 2nd menus other option, because it limits how many characters I can even write. They don’t actually ask you to upload any documents by the way – so this string of words is all I have.
Am I just missing some magic refugee agency that can help with this? I’ve discovered refugee resettlement agencies seem to care less about TPS than the uniting for Ukraine applicants, but I can’t go back in time.
Thanks for reading – apologies if I sound frustrated, I realize it’s very nuanced, so I’m not surprised I’m struggling.
