How to Crush Covered California Open Enrollment

We've been through over 10 years of these periods with 10's of 1000's of happy customers.

During that time, we've seen it all:

• Changes in income
• Change in household
• Carriers coming and going
• Doctor networks ebbing and flowing

Most people don't realize how much money is at stake during open enrollment. Worst yet...

Roughly 50% of people who self-enroll or renew have mistakes in their account that can cost them $1000's in subsidies.

First, our credentials:

Let's walk through how to avoid leaving any money on the table with these topics:

• Quick intro to Covered Ca Open Enrollment
• Meeting the deadlines for changes
• Getting the income piece right
• Making sure our Household data is correct
• Comparing the new plans for the next year
• Quoting, enrolling, or renewing the smart way

Let's get started!

You can always reach out to us with any questions here at zero cost to you:

Call 800-320-6269
Email: help@calhealth.net
Pick a time to talk here
Chat online here

Quick intro to Covered Ca Open Enrollment

Let's hit the basics first.

Open Enrollment runs from Nov 1st to Jan 15th each year.

We have to process any changes or enrollments by Dec 15th to get a Jan 1st effective date unless we've lost other coverage in the last 60 days!

Otherwise, from Dec 16th through Jan 15th, you'll get a 2/1 effective date.

Occasionally, CoveredCa will extend the Dec 15th date but we can't count on it. Reach out to us to check for updates to this.

Open Enrollment is the time to do the following regardless of health or current insurance status:

• Enroll in a new plan
• Change existing plans
• Update information for the next year

We'll show in the final section how to do this well!

Let's walk through these pieces in more detail.

Meeting the deadlines for changes

Number one concern is not to miss the deadlines!

There's always a mad rush at the deadlines (12/15 and 1/15) and the system can literally slow to a crawl.

Existing members can actually start to get info on 10/1 and new enrollees can process as early as 11/1.

There's a way to take a process that can take 30-45 minutes and turn it into a simple email, which we'll touch on below.

Once we get past the deadline, it can be hard if not impossible to enroll or change plans for the following year outside of a special enrollment period.

Try to get this all done in Nov before the holidays, but know that we're busy getting people processed right up to midnight on the deadlines most years!

Then there's the fun part of the income estimate.

Getting the income piece right

Here's the hard part... we're trying to estimate our full year's income for the NEXT year.

For example, if it's Open Enrollment at the end of 2024, we're trying to estimate our income for 2025 or the AGI on the 1040 tax form the following year (April 2026).

For many people, that's tough but know that the past year's income has no bearing on the next year!

If you expect big changes in income for the following year, we want to go with that, and we're happy to walk through your situation since this is the most important piece of today's health insurance.

The subsidy and richer versions of the silver plan all depend on this estimate!

Walk through it with a professional! It's half of what we do these days.

Also, if you're close to the Medi-Cal income limit in the current year for either adults or the higher one for kids under 19, be careful!

That income limit goes up each open enrollment and AGAIN in March-April so you may suddenly find your plan is canceled, and Medi-Cal has the account.

We're happy to look at your account and check this status for you with these steps:

Zero cost for our assistance and you can see our Google reviews for many people we've helped in the exact same way.

Let's turn to the other side of the subsidy equation...Household.

Making sure our Household data is correct

Open enrollment is the time to look at our Household and it's first best to understand their definition of this.

Household is everyone who files together on a 1040 tax form, even if not enrolling.

This will be the 1040 tax form filed FOR the following year.

So back to our example if we're at the end of 2024. It would be the tax filing status for 2025 or the form submitted April of 2026.

Marriages, divorces, new babies, etc can all affect this and sometimes, in big ways.

If we're married, we need to file jointly so this can definitely affect options for both people.

You don't want to get huge tax credits (subsidies) for one of the people only to have to pay them back the following April because the joint income is much higher.

Changes to household get complicated fast so reach out to us to walk through it. In 5 minutes, we can size it up and get you on the right path.

Call 800-320-6269
Email: help@calhealth.net
Pick a time to talk here
Chat online here

Comparing the new plans for the next year

Things change year to year.

• Our healthcare needs and costs change
• Doctor networks definitely change (lots of this lately)
• Plan benefits adjust each year
• Carriers come and go in different areas

The best-priced plan one year may not be the best the following year!

The subsidy is based on the 2nd lowest priced silver plan in a given area.

If a carrier comes in and underprices the market, it can blow up the subsidy for the rest of the plans!

We see it every year. Sometimes, a given network of plans (say PPO with one carrier) just explodes in cost.

This process of comparing the plans, especially those that take our doctors, is a little more complicated so reach out to us and we can quickly boil it down for your needs.

Finally, how do we do this all with the least amount of time and frustration?

Quoting, enrolling, or renewing the smart way

First, you can quote all the major Open Enrollment plans and rates starting Nov 1st here:

Enrollment for Covered Ca (newly enrolled) is fast, free, and easy here:

Our simplified Covered Ca app will save you around 30-40 minutes and most importantly we process it directly in the system but first scrub it to make sure you're not missing out on anything.

This includes:

• The Medi-Cal trap
• Enhanced silver plans
• Issues with income and household

Lots to look at, and we've seen 10's of 1000's of applications and situations!

There's zero cost for our assistance.

Finally, for existing Covered Ca accounts, just make us your agent with the steps below, tell us what you want, and we'll get to work:

There's zero cost for our assistance and check out the Google reviews on what to expect.