I am an independent contractor, and my wife is with a fulltime company. We have kids. Up until today we ran two policies. My wife had on her employers' as they would only cover her affordably. Myself and the kids where on another policy i separately pulled. My wife's open enrollment for her job was April 1st, with new policies starting in May 1st. This year her company was switching from BCBS to UHC, and the family plan on this made sense for all of us to be on the employer plan of hers so we signed up with an effective date of May 1st, and i gave notice last month to my private policy that i was cancelling.
Her company basically didn't do anything. In contacting them today, they said, that "well, they are still working out the contract with UHC", but don't worry, BCBS is still active. Of course this doesn't help myself or kids.
So I have two questions I'm hoping someone can help me with... and I'm in Illinois.
- Obviously, we are fighting them and have written proof of the mess here and their negligence in following through with what was stated. I'm positive we are not the only people in this situation. But in the short-term, separate of fighting the company, do i have options for short term coverage i can pull. Even if its catastrophic. I'm literally petrified at this point.
- From an open enrollment perspective on ACA, where does this fall as an exception and how to I go about applying for that. Granted, this isn't going to solve my immediate need, but may secure coverage for me if i can get it. Is there any exception here for employer negligence and how do i go about this.