Escalation Results in $2,700 Owed To Insurance

Hello,

I am hoping that this community is able to help me in any way. I started an application with marketplace for my family to get coverage beginning August 1, 2024. Two adults and 4 children, technically 3 young adults and 1 child. The ages are 21, 19, 18, and 4. did their age the marketplace had my 18-year-old and four year old automatically applied for my states program.

I was informed that once a decision was reached by the state’s Medicaid program on whether or not they would be covered that I would need to call back and update the insurance marketplace. On July 22nd a letter was mailed to my home advising that the 18 and 4 year old had not been accepted into the program. Unfortunately, I was out of town and did not open it until July 31st. On August 1st, I called the marketplace customer service and let them know of the decision. I’ve been requested them left. They could cover my children for the month of August.

They did an escalation however I was unaware that doing would be a devastating chain of events. What I noticed first was that our deductible was changed. It went from $1,100 to $16,000. Now apparently doing an escalation means that your eligibility is again questioned. Even though I already received a letter of eligibility once I requested that my 18-year-old and four year old be added. This meant that our income of 36,000 was too low for family of six, and therefore we no longer qualified for subsidy for the medical insurance.

I was told by the marketplace customer service representative for the month of August that we would now owe $2700 to the medical insurance company for August’s premium. They said that we earned too little for family of 6 and therefore would have to pay the full amount. I’m not understanding it works this way and I was hoping someone can help me understand this part. The $36,000 is based on last year‘s taxes. We earned $60,000 pre-taxes but after all deductions it came down to our income of being $36,000 that’s why I put $36,000. Does anyone know if there’s any I can do at this point? We don’t have the money to pay $2,700.

Many thanks.