Got a cancellation notice for baby’s plan today. Not sure what to do next.
Our baby's health plan was cancelled today, which came as a huge surprise. Not sure what to do next.
Background info:
We had a baby last December. Obviously, he needed insurance so we looked at plans for our HMO. I started by shopping marketplace plans and off-exchange plans. I submitted a marketplace application to review the marketplace plans. Since baby had no SSN, the marketplace application asked us to submit citizenship details by April 13. We ended up going with the off-exchange plan since it was slightly cheaper and afforded the same coverage.
I had thought that because we went with an off-exchange plan, that the marketplace application was not relevant, so we ignored reminders that we needed to submit citizenship info even though baby now has a SSN and all necessary paperwork to establish citizenship. We received nothing from the HMO about our eligibility since we purchased the plan in December. All premiums have been paid.
Turns out I may be a dummy. Today I got a cancellation notice for the off-exchange plan from the HMO stating that son is not eligible for coverage. There are no details as to why he's not eligible but the timing makes me think that it's because I didn't submit the citizenship details re: the marketplace application. The notice has a phone number on it but they're closed until tomorrow AM. I plan to call first thing tomorrow but I have a few questions first that I think would help me figure out what to do:
Is it correct that our failure to submit the documents requested by our marketplace plan could affect our eligibility for the off-exchange plan?
If so, is there any way to fix this by submitting evidence of baby's SSN and citizenship even though the deadline has passed?
The cancellation notice says that the cancellation is effective back to the start date of the account and that we need to pay for all care we received since the inception of the account as if we had no insurance. Does that seem right? We have been paying premiums for the past 5 months. If the plan is going to be retroactively cancelled I would think we would at least be entitled to a return of the premiums.
If we're stuck with the cancellation, how do we apply for new insurance for baby? Are we eligible for a special enrollment period?
Any other thoughts/advice are definitely welcome!
Also, because we live in these times, I also feel the need to clarify that the letter is legit. The number to call is a number listed on the HMO's website. So, this is not a scam.
Thank you all so much in advance!
submitted by /u/Health-Dummy-1465
[comments]
