ACA and CHIP Frustrations

I'm nearly in tears trying to get my 2.5 year old health insurance. I was laid off in February and insurance that covered me and my son was canceled at the end of Feb. My son has more than 1 allergy, one of them being severe (hospitalization would be needed if exposed). I was told to apply for CHIP for him by his pediatrician's office and have had someone there helping me go through the process. She has been submitting the documents on our behalf to the PA Dept. of Human Services. I've been covered since April through Marketplace and in retrospect, should've just added my son to that plan but his pediatrician insisted CHIP was the best option for him.

Initially, he was approved for CHIP but we were visiting relatives and a notice came in the mail while we were gone giving us only ONE day to make the payment to start the coverage and when that one day came and went, his coverage was immediately terminated. The termination letter came 2 weeks later and we had no recourse to make the payment to reinstate. I have documentation to prove the ridiculous 1 day timeline and have called several people within the agency and they all agreed it was abnormal yet there was nothing they could do and I had to reapply. We're now a month in and his re-application is STILL pending. I got a notice yesterday that took 8 days to get to me requiring "proof of available health insurance 9/2023" by 5/26….wtf? Why would they need health insurance proof from a year ago when my layoff happened in 2024? This seems like an evil delay tactic impacting my small child the most and causing me so much stress.

Has anyone else gone through something similar? I feel helpless and don't know what to do and of course will send proof of insurance but something tells me that it's still not going to be the right document they're looking for…

submitted by /u/reneerobert
[comments]