ACA – Income & Alimony Clarification

I’m a 59 yo NJ resident who is losing COBRA coverage and thought I could pick up coverage through the ACA (getcoverednj). I went through a post-2019 divorce and, at this time, my only source of income is alimony. It is enough for me to survive as I look for work, but not enough to pay an additional $1000/month health insurance premium.
According to the ACA, getcoverednj, and the federal tax code guidelines, alimony from a post-2019 divorce does not count as income. If I fill out all the ACA forms truthfully, I have virtually no income and that is also what my federal return shows. As a result, I am told to look into Medicaid — but I have enough income that I should not be on Medicaid.
From what I have read on here, I am not supposed to intentionally fudge my income and claim that a certain amount of it is some other type of income so I can qualify for a subsidized plan. This would also never be corroborated by my tax return. Also, I can’t just claim my alimony as income (even though it doesn’t have to be) because that also would never match my federal return.
Does anyone know any out-of-the-box yet legit solutions to this kind of income problem? I do hope to return to work in the coming year, but I was out of work quite a long time raising kids and have had trouble landing a job.
If I apply with a good faith claim that I expect to start a job that will make me $25-30K and then file a return in 2024 that shows little or no income what will happen? There seem to be differing opinions on here as to how the IRS treats that.
Also, if I want to make a good faith claim that I will have a certain amount of income next year, would it make a difference to suggest it would come from self-employment vs an employer job? In other words, when the time comes to reconcile would I be able to say I didn’t make that income because my self-employed business didn’t take off like I thought it would.
I am trying to do the correct thing. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.