My health insurance is shut off, but I’m still employed?

In NYS

Primary job is how I get (/got) my insurance. Primary job is also very physical, mostly walking a few miles per shift, moving around people and equipment bigger than myself. Light duty is not a real thing. I have been on leave from primary job since my right foot was crushed in a car accident at the end of June. I required major surgery, an entire summer non-weightbearing on that side, multiple casts and boots, and now, physical therapy three times per week. (Fortunately, this is all being billed under my no-fault policy.) I am still an active employee, though. I have access to the employee platform, Kronos, and my email, my door swipe still works, and as soon as I am medically cleared with documentation, I can return to duty.

-Months prior to the accident, I signed a contract for a seasonal, temporary side job to take place from July to August. When I called a week before my start date to cancel said job due to lack of one working foot, I was assured that I could remain sedentary, and that I would not be penalized if I needed to take some days off (unpaid) for treatments or to deal with pain. I got this is writing and worked the job. It was four hours a day, only lasted 8 weeks, and did not include benefits or PTO. (All explicitly stated in my offer letter and contract.) The earnings kept my lights on and my fridge stocked while my lost wages claim for my main job was processed via my no-fault policy. My auto insurer was aware that I had multiple employers, that I was able to work for one but not the other, and the auto insurer took no issue with this, they simply consider only my primary employer when calculating my payments, which seems like the logical way to go about things.

After my NF claim was squared away, I reached out to my regular health insurance, which is a union-contracted plan. I submitted my disability leave claim, explicitly informing them of the lost wages I was already receiving, and emphasizing the fact that the only thing I needed was to keep my health insurance active while I recover from this injury. Again, per the instructions on the form, I included all recent employers.

They responded with a discontinuation letter, retroactive to the beginning of July, and instructions to apply for COBRA. When I called in hopes of clarifying the situation, the supervisor told me that I, “couldn’t just pick and choose when to work like that,” and if I was able to do my second (completely different) job, then I didn’t qualify for disability at my first one. This is after the rep GIGGLED as she narrated herself denying my claim before she was willing to connect me to a supervisor.

I asked what would happen when I return to work, they told me my coverage would reinstate a month after I clock in again.

For starters, most people have multiple jobs, and a lot of those combinations incorporate both blue and white collar work. This has to be an issue that comes up often, but I’ve never heard of it before.

I am still an active employee, so I don’t think I qualify for Medicaid.

I can’t afford COBRA, it would be $900 a month.

If I purchase a marketplace plan, it will probably kick in around the same time I am cleared to come back, and then I will have to cancel it, wasting so many steps and so much money, and probably causing another SNAFU with this disaster company.

If I seek out a sedentary job that offers benefits, the schedule is unlikely to be compatible with my primary job’s.

I am not seeing a solution that doesn’t involve me going at least a couple grand into debt or quitting my job, if my insurer is following the rules.

Are they?

Is there any way to remedy this, other than an appeal or a giant plastic bubble for the next two months?

(P.S. I do have my original contract from the seasonal job, the email where my supervisor assured me that I could “just sit,” and my “injury would not be an issue,” my offer letter from my main job, a current job posting for an identical position which includes a job description including tasks that would still make my surgeon cry. I did send these along to my auto insurer for clarity’s sake, but I figured my health insurance would simply be concerned with the job they are insuring through. This feels like punishment for transparency )

(P.P.S. I also have an out of state per diem. I didn’t talk about it here because I am physically unable to do that one right now as well, but I am not entitled to anything through it. I’m not in disagreement with that, neither insurer is contesting that.)