[California] Lost my Medi-Cal coverage because they think I’m making monthly income while I’ve been unemployed. What should I do?
Quick backstory:
I live in the Bay Area (single) I've been unemployed since April 2023 I haven't worked or received any payments since May 2023 (aside from 25 weeks of unemployment benefits) I signed up for Medi-Cal in late 2023 and was approved
A couple weeks ago, I received letters from Covered CA and The State of California, stating that I was ineligible for both Covered CA and Medi-Cal. I am confused about their reasoning in both cases:
For Covered CA: They said I wasn't eligible because I don't qualify for a special enrollment period. I don't understand because I specifically waited until the enrollment period to apply, back in late 2023. (I missed the cut-off to sign up after losing my job, since I didn't know there was a cut-off, so I just waited for the next opportunity) For Medi-Cal: This is even more confusing. On one piece of paper, it said I was approved for Medi-Cal starting 11/01/2023 and that my monthly income is ~$600. On the next, it said they were terminating Medi-Cal coverage on 12/31/2023(?!) because my monthly income is ~$1900, which is above the cut-off.
I'm not sure what income they're referring to, or why the amounts are listed differently within the same letter. I have a bank account, a 401k, stocks, and a brokerage account, so I am technically earning some interest on all four of those, but I haven't worked or received any payments besides splitting a few meals on Venmo.
One of my friends thinks that it was because I sold some of my company stock in March. I was surprised to hear that this may(?) count as "income", and I wouldn't have sold it if I knew that were the case. But I think that may not be the reason anyway, because I sold the stock in March (not in November/December), and the monetary values don't match up. Furthermore, it does not explain why my income was listed as ~$600 one month and ~$1900 the next, when nothing of financial significance happened in those two months. I didn't even split any meals then, so I know it's not Venmo. It doesn't match the unemployment benefit values either, although I was receiving those during those two months.
So my questions are basically:
What can I do from here? Is there anything I could do to recover my eligibility? Is it possible to find out where the income they think I have is coming from without going through a state hearing? If CoveredCA/Medi-Cal aren't valid options, is there at least any healthcare that is cheaper than the fine I'd need to pay for not having healthcare?
And for some final context on my health: Back when I had healthcare, I pretty much only used it for annual checkups and dental. I'm still young and in great shape, so I'm comfortable having the cheapest healthcare that keeps me from paying a fine until I'm able to get a job again. I got hit penalized pretty heavily when I filed my 2023 taxes for not having healthcare for most of the year, so my primary motivation is to prevent that from happening again.
Sorry that this is so long; I wanted to make sure I explained everything as well as I could, since this is a pretty confusing and overwhelming topic for me. Thanks for reading!
submitted by /u/BootyJawn
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