Special Enrollment Period

Special Enrollment Period in Response to the COVID-19 Emergency

In accordance with the Executive Order issued by President Biden, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is providing a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for individuals and families to apply and enroll in the coverage they need during the coronavirus pandemic. Here’s what you need to know:

Consumers Who Are Currently Uninsured

• Between February 15 and May 15, individuals and families who want to take advantage of this SEP can find out if they are eligible by visiting healthcare.gov/coronavirus or beWellnm.com.
• Consumers who are eligible and enroll during this SEP will be able to select a plan with coverage that begins the first of the month after plan selection.
• Consumers will have 30 days after they submit their application to choose a plan.

Consumers Who Already Have Coverage through healthcare.gov (the Exchange)

• Consumers who already have coverage can change or update their coverage.
  • Current enrollees will be able to change to any available plan in their area, without restriction, with the same level of coverage as their current plan.
  • To use this SEP, current enrollees will need to step through their application and make any needed changes to their current information and submit their application.
  • Enrollees will then receive an updated eligibility result that provides the SEP before they can continue on to enrollment.
• This SEP opportunity will not involve any new application questions or require consumers or enrollment partners to provide any new information not otherwise required to determine eligibility and enroll.
• In addition, consumers won’t need to provide any documentation of a qualifying event (e.g., loss of a job or birth of a child), which is typically required for SEP eligibility.