Qualifying Event? – Moderately complicated situation between spouses

I am trying to do research for my married friends, as they are both working FT, and I am currently on vacation, lol.

Scenario:

Jack works at a VERY large non-profit hospital. He is in his early 30s and healthy. He has also always received insurance through IHS (Indian Health Service). Because of his age and good health, he turned down enrolling in commercial insurance when he started his job at the hospital.

Jill, his wife, is also young, but experiences chronic conditions that absolutely must be treated by specialists. (Mostly office visits, but also 1-2 ER visits every year). She has commercial insurance through state employment, but would like to leave working FT, as her health conditions have been more problematic recently.

COBRA is too expensive for them once she leaves FT work.

They did the Exchange simulator on the website to see what Exchange plans might be available, but none of them worked because – no matter what the plan – only 2 of her 3 specialists were in-network.

Question, in a nutshell – Does HER leaving her job and losing her commercial coverage allow HIM to enter into a Special Enrollment Period for commercial coverage even though he hasn't signed up for it previously?… I've researched on healthcare.gov as much as I can, lol. I believe that yes, that it does allow HIM to enter into a Special Enrollment Period where he can sign them both up, but… I'm not 100% sure?

State – Alaska, but this is more of a question of what is covered under federal mandates.

submitted by /u/Sliding_Doors27
[comments]