Cancelling COBRA before it expires does not count as a qualifying event triggering a special enrollment period.Ģ. Note, however, that if you opt to continue your current plan through COBRA, you’ll have to hold onto that policy until it ends or annual open enrollment comes around on November 1 st. If your income qualifies, you may be able to get financial help paying for coverage when you shop through your state’s health insurance exchange. You can either continue the policy offered by your employer under COBRA, or you can buy one on your own in the health insurance market at. If you lose or leave a job that offered you health insurance you now have several options to hold onto coverage. Here are 5 common qualifying life events that trigger eligibility for a special enrollment period.ġ. You have sixty days from the date of the event to enroll. However, under the Affordable Care Act, certain changes to your life circumstances can trigger what is considered a “qualifying life event” that may make you eligible to sign up for health insurance outside of the annual open enrollment period. Not having health insurance this year may mean you have to pay a penalty – a fee that increases in 2015 to $325 per person or 2% of household taxable income, whichever is higher.

(Special Note: The tax-time special enrollment periodfrom March 15 to April 30, 2015 – for people who paid a penalty for being uninsured in 2014 – is now over.) If you missed the deadline, and don’t currently have insurance you likely won’t have another opportunity to buy a health plan until open enrollment comes around again later this year. The 2015 annual open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act officially closed on February 15 th.

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