General News
Published June 22, 2020
COVID-19 has put thousands of Washington residents out of work, many of whom have lost their health insurance.
Job loss and other qualifying life events make your clients eligible for a special enrollment period to get new health insurance. Here are key things to know to help your clients navigate the path to new coverage.
Qualifying life events
Qualifying life events are a major change in your situation, like losing your employer-sponsored health insurance, getting married or divorced, having a baby, moving, and more. A full list is available in our article about special enrollment.
Documents and deadlines
As part of the application process, your clients will need to provide proof they’re Washington state residents. Additionally, each qualifying life event comes with its own set of required documents.
They have 60 days from the date they lost coverage to apply for individual coverage. And 30 days to submit documents from when we sent them a letter requesting them. Not submitting these documents in time is a major reason people end up without coverage.
To help your clients successfully enroll in coverage, the full list of required documentation needed is available on our special enrollment web page.