A qualifying life event can open a Special Enrollment Period to get or change Health Insurance Marketplace (ACA) coverage outside Open Enrollment. Here's exactly what applies when you lose Medicaid or CHIP coverage.
Quick answer: If you lose Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage, you get a longer-than-usual Special Enrollment Period. You have 90 days from the date your Medicaid or CHIP coverage ends to pick a Marketplace plan.
Enroll in any Marketplace health plan and apply for premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions based on your household income. If your income is still low, the Marketplace may also re-check whether anyone in the household qualifies for Medicaid or CHIP again.
Coverage usually starts the first day of the month after you pick a plan. Because this window runs 90 days, don't wait until the end — a plan chosen earlier means fewer uninsured weeks. For a Federal-Marketplace loss of Medicaid/CHIP, you generally are not required to submit extra documents to confirm it.
People who were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP and lost that coverage — whether from an income change, a renewal/redetermination, aging out, or a move. This is one of the most valuable and most-missed Special Enrollment Periods.
The official HealthCare.gov screener walks through your situation in a few questions and tells you if a Special Enrollment Period is open — free, no obligation.
Check on HealthCare.gov →You have 90 days from the date your Medicaid or CHIP coverage ends to enroll in a Marketplace plan — longer than the usual 60-day window for most life events. Apply as soon as you get the notice that your Medicaid or CHIP is ending to minimize any gap.
On the Federal Marketplace, losing Medicaid or CHIP is generally accepted without requiring you to upload documents to confirm it. State-run Marketplaces may differ, so follow the instructions your Marketplace gives after you apply.
Special Enrollment Periods are short and event-driven — miss a client's 60-day window and they wait until Open Enrollment. A dated SEP log is the difference between a written app and a lost lead. This page is free to share. The ACA Health Agent Tracker ($29, Excel + Google Sheets) gives you a ready-made book of business to log every member's qualifying event, deadline, and PMPM; the Agency-in-a-Box bundles it with the full CRM and compliance logs.
See the ACA Health Agent Tracker on Etsy →These windows are based on U.S. government Health Insurance Marketplace rules: