No Health Insurance Yet but Cancer May Have Returned

I hope this is ok to post here, please remove if it's not.

My 61 yo male husband (we live in Iowa) was diagnosed in 2008 with oral cancer and had a successful surgery to remove the tumor in April of 2008. He did about 6 weeks of radiation treatment and was declared cancer free in 2010.

In the last few months he has been having bad pain in his throat that inhibits his swallowing and eating, but has no health insurance at this time. No doctor will order testing to see if his cancer has returned until we can get health insurance for him. We make too much to qualify for Medicaid, and he's not old enough to qualify for Medicare.

Are there any options for us besides waiting for open enrollment this year? I realize that's really close, but we're not sure it is soon enough – and due to his job, he may not actually have coverage until spring. (He works in the construction trade, and is laid off during the winter, and would not be paying on the policy until spring. We're not entirely clear on the details yet – no one at his job is too concerned on providing us details.)

I'm trying to cover bases here, just in case. Does anyone have any advice for me? TIA!

submitted by /u/ravynwytch
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