Ugghhh! My 26 year old DD applied for an ACA plan a couple of days ago. On the application, it asked if she had lost insurance and she marked “no” even though she was officially off our policy on June 30. She found out this morning that she has been declined and that she can’t get ACA insurance for a month.
Is there anything she can do to get insurance today? Even a catastrophic policy would be ok until August 1.
ETA: Based on her income, she was not eligible for any subsidy.
You could check to see if your health insurance plan qualifies for COBRA. It might be expensive, but if it’s only for a month, would be an option. I believe if you qualify it’s retroactive to the date you lost your insurance.
COBRA sounds like a good option. Not sure if there would be ACA ramifications if she does this: COBRA election is retroactive for I believe 60 days (check the notice)… she can pay in August for her July coverage. So if nothing happens in July, she does not need COBRA. But I have no idea if going a month uninsured would be detrimental to her getting an ACA plan. So what I suggested could be risky.
Thank you @tsickles and @BunsenBurner! We did check with DH’s HR department and she is eligible for COBRA. That was not even remotely on my radar since she was not the employee and is no longer a dependent. What a relief.
She also got in touch with someone far more helpful at our state’s marketplace customer service number. Contrary to what the original stern bureaucrat told her, they can go in and manually correct the answer to the question she answered wrong. The woman gave her a resolution ticket number and said it would likely be corrected and approved in 48 hours.
This silver lining? This morning, my crisis management efforts were rewarded with this tidbit I’ll savor for a few days: Apparently, my 5+ decades on this earth MIGHT mean I know something she doesn’t. 
She volunteered this information, but unfortunately not until AFTER I had nearly bitten my tongue off. (I had told her for months this was all complicated and she should start researching EARLY.)
Thanks again for the help!
This is why I always recommend going to a hospital financial counseling office or whatever the equivalent is in other states. They do the application manually in the office and can communicate directly with the plan. And in our state the plan is active that day.
I am glad customer service was helpful!
Clearly that is good advice.
She did get some professional advice from a consultant about which plan was best for her situation, but there was no offer to help her actually sign up for the plan they settled on. I tried to find a broker that would help her but there was a charge for that service. She thought the form was too straight forward after she’d chosen a plan to pay someone to help her enroll. She thought that question was asking her if she had already lost insurance. Since she still had coverage for a couple more days, she answered “no”. She said she also thought it was similar to the car insurance question where they ask if you have been without insurance because if you have, there is a premium penalty for that. She did not understand that she was eligible to sign up mid year (outside of the open enrollment period in November) ONLY because she had lost insurance.
Generally, she KNOWS better than to take the first “no” answer you are given regarding a customer service issue, and to always persist up the chain, but this morning she was far too “freaked out” to persist on her first effort.
.
Big lessons learned today! I have a few more gray hairs for souvenirs.
You’re welcome! Glad to hear that you got good news and that she has a couple of options.
And being recognized for your superior knowledge is always nice, even if it takes extreme circumstances. 
Understandable and conscientious mistake. Glad it worked out!
In NJ the state pays the brokers to help you fill out the form. We were rejected several times until the broker called and found out what they needed to appove us.