Stuck in a pickle and could use some help.

I’m gonna try to make a long story short. I live and work in Alabama. The company I work for has insurance, but our only option for health is a REALLY limited indemnity plan. When it was first offered to me I started to look into it and was blown away at how little it covered even at the maximum tier ($5 for max 4 doctor’s visits per year, $150 for an ambulance, etc.). Couple that with how you have to pay out of pocket and ask for reimbursement (and you’re not guaranteed that you’ll be reimbursed per their own wording) and that’s REALLY unattractive for the work I do (EMS, Fire Protection). The only benefit is that it’s cheap at $55/mo for the max tier.

So, I figured I’d opt for healthcare.gov instead. I started going through everything today and the price: coverage ratio is unbelievable. I thought “maybe I’m eligible for tax credits?” Negative. If I read correctly, because my employer offers a policy I’m not eligible. That or I make too much money which is laughable ($45,000/yr roughly), either way that’s out of the picture. I figured I’d swallow my pride and take the trash indemnity plan because it’s cheap. Plot twist: enrollment for my employer ended Dec. 1st. I guess I missed that memo (I work on-site as a contractor for separate company, so I never actually see or interact with anyone from the actual company I work for, so it’s easy to miss. Plus they didn’t send out an email/ the timeframe isn’t on the benefits booklet. Super shady but that’s par for the course here).

Despite the amount of money I make, I still don’t really make enough to live “comfortably”. The area I live in is costly and throwing $300-$500 a month on top would be a life-altering amount of stress to pile on.

So all that to ask: am I just stuck having to pay $300 for the most basic of BCBS policies that I’ll never exceed the deductible of for them to cover anything and go back to eating ramen like the college days? Or are there other options out there? Or am I fundamentally misunderstanding how insurance works and would that bare bones BCBS policy be fine? I honestly don’t know. It looks like I’ve gotta spend like $9,500 to have them start covering literally anything at all. Why even have insurance at that point? I mean hell maybe if I got seriously injured, but that’s a big if when it comes to spending basically all of my net income after bills on it.

Also note: I completely acknowledge that this is my fault for waiting until the last minute to figure out. The whole process has been overwhelming and my employer has been especially unhelpful in the matter. But hindsight is 20/20 and I’m in quite the pickle. I haven’t had insurance for nearly 3 years (since I turned 26) and I’d really like to change that. Thanks in advance.