Partner is pregnant & due next May. We live in Florida & both of us are independent contractors. What should we be on the lookout for as she signs up for insurance (Medicaid?) on Healthcare.gov for next year?

My girlfriend is pregnant (just finished first trimester!), and it is now healthcare.gov open enrollment season. We live in Florida. She makes 20-30k per year as a self-employed independent contractor. Probably on the lower side (maybe even less) next year due to maternity leave / not being able to fulfill certain contracts because of baby, but it’s really hard to say. I am also an independent contractor insured through healthcare.gov (so no job-based insurance to extend).

Healthcare.gov’s says she may be eligible to enroll in Medicaid next year, if she discloses the pregnancy now. However, she seems to be right on the cusp based on her income. Having never used Medicaid before, we have a few questions:

– If she does elect to enroll in Medicaid, will she be penalized if she ends up making too much money to qualify? What’s the penalty?

– If she does elect to enroll in Medicaid and the pregnancy turns out to not be viable (i.e., she doesn’t end up giving birth), will she be penalized for no longer being eligable?

– Is the general standard of care available for Medicaid patients as high quality as that for privately insured (i.e., do “good doctors” still take Medicaid)?

Any other factors we may be overlooking? Any reason to try to do one insurance type vs the other? Thank you so much for your help.