Wife losing CalCobra Insurance

Hello all,

I’ve been following r/healthinsurance for a couple years now to try and keep up to date about navigating health insurance as my wife is enrolled in CalCobra and I pay an out of pocket premium as I am self-employed.

We are now in a situation I was hoping not to be in by understanding the various insurance pitfalls and mechanisms. Hoping for confirmation of our options or for ideas.

Wife currently enrolled in CalCobra until 9.1.22 when the plan ends. It is ending as her former work place shut down and are not sponsoring any insurance plans anymore through Blue Shield of CA or any other insurance plans. Due to various errors on our end and unfortunate communication from insurance staff, the notice we got for this cancellation back in July was assumed to be a notice related to lack of payment as Blue Shield of CA had not cashed the premium check because their system for cashing the check was down (they don’t allow for electronic payment as far as I am aware and which was confirmed by CalCobra staff previously). Blue Shield of CA staff had told us not to worry about the plan being cancelled for nonpayment because the error is on their end and then the cancelation notice for 9.1.22 came a couple days later in the mail so we assumed it was due to that lack of processed payment. When we didn’t get the usual notice to pay in the mail for September (seemed off) we called in and they confirmed the CalCobra plan is no longer being sponsored. Due diligence would have prevented this challenge.

The challenge: Applied for life event (losing insurance as Blue Shield of CA is canceling it, described above) change to enroll wife in CoveredCA plan on 8.20.22 (found out Friday, 8.19.22 after talking to Blue Shield of CA staff) though the plan apparently won’t start until 10.1.22. We do not want a lapse in insurance as my wife has reoccurring medical appointments related to severe allergies. We can pay out of pocket for the appointments if necessary though want the coverage if a medical emergency or crisis happens.

The options as I see it: 1.Enroll in CoveredCA plan and hope no medical emergency or crisis happens, plan starts 10.1.22 2.Enroll in Blue Shield of CA Off Exchange Silver plan for the year (I read online they usually ask us to commit to a year or the remainder of the calendar year). Plan to stick with Blue Shield of CA as the facility my wife goes for care is in network with Blue Shield fo CA.

Question: I looked at the exclusions for the off exchange plan and it did not say anything about denying pre-existing conditions care, is this accurate?

Hoping to hear if my options above are accurate or if there are other options I am not aware of. Planning to call CoveredCA when they open Monday at 8am.

If helpful; Zipcode 94538