Question about Medi-Cal and California residency
Hey all, not sure if this is the right place for this topic, but I need some clarity regarding Medi-Cal.
I M(32) lived in LA, CA, 90403 while receiving Medi-Cal in CA.
Long story short: I lived in CA from 08/2018 until 05/2021. I moved to Georgia for a temporary work gig, and then moved back to CA in 02/2022. I left CA in 04/2022 and moved to TX, where I currently live.
While in GA, I had Marketplace health insurance. When I moved back to CA, I applied for insurance through CoveredCA. I was unemployed, so I was offered Medi-Cal. I enrolled in 02/2022.
I moved to TX two months later, and didnt apply for health insurance until June. I enrolled in Marketplace insurance, and called CA in July to inform them that I no longer needed Medi-Cal. (I know that I was late on this, and should have enrolled in TX insurance immediately and called CA immediately. I thought that there was a grace period, and there wasn’t, so that was my fault)
CA told me that I needed to call LA.Care, who handled my Medi-Cal claim. I tried calling them many times, and it was nearly impossible to get ahold of someone. The wait tomes were hours, and with work I couldn’t sit on the phone for hours, waiting for them to answer.
A couple of weeks later, they contacted me to say that my plan had been canceled – this was early August. All good, I assumed.
I just got my 1095-B form in the mail, and was struck with strong anxiety that I messed up big time, and will owe CA a ton of money, or something. All in all, I had Medi-Cal for 7 months.
Anyone know what the likely outcome of this situation might be? And if so, is there anything I can/need to do in order to make it easier and softer on myself?
FYI: I already filed my tax returns, I did not earn any income in CA, so I did not file a CA state return (also I read that 1095-B forms are not required for filing taxes).
TL;DR: I had Medi-Cal health insurance for 7 months this year and for 5 of those months I lived in Texas. Will I be penalized? If so, how can I go about avoiding being penalized?