Special Enrollment
Get health insurance when you experience a major life change.
You can apply for a health insurance plan outside open enrollment (or make changes to your current plan) if you’ve experienced one of these major life changes, usually within the last 60 days. Or, find out if you qualify for Medi-Cal.
You lose Medi-Cal insurance (90-day special-enrollment period).
You lose your health insurance through your job.
Your COBRA insurance is exhausted. Note: Not paying your COBRA premium is not considered loss of coverage.
You are no longer eligible for student health insurance.
You turn 19 years old and are no longer eligible for a child-only plan.
You turn 26 years old and are no longer eligible for a parent’s health plan.
- You move to California from out of state.
- You move within California and gain access to at least one new Covered California health insurance plan.
- One or both members of the new couple can use the special-enrollment period to enroll in coverage.
- A child is born, adopted or received into foster care. The entire family can use the special-enrollment period to enroll in insurance.
- If you receive a child in foster care, you will need to indicate “adopted a child” in the drop-down menu when you apply.
For the birth or adoption of a child, or acceptance of a child into foster care, you can choose to have coverage start on:
- The first day of the month following the birth, adoption, or placement in your foster care of a child.
- On the date of the birth, adoption or placement in foster care.
- On the first day of the month following plan selection.
Your household experienced a natural or human-caused disaster (such as wildfires) declared as a state of emergency in California.
You have lost coverage after leaving active duty, reserve duty, or the California National Guard.
You become a citizen, national, or lawful permanent resident.
- You are already enrolled in a Covered California plan and become newly eligible or ineligible for tax credits or cost-sharing reductions.
- You are already enrolled in a Covered California plan and you lose a dependent or lose your status as a dependent due to divorce, legal separation, dissolution of domestic partnership, or death.
