My hellacious health care nightmare -- Obamacare has ruined me

[still_one]

37. There are a lot of details missing in these stories. Medicare doesn't have an income limit, but

Medicaid does. Also, under the ACA, subsidies would be given based on income. There are folks who fall slightly above those income requirements for the ACA, and their premiums could be quite substantial compared to someone who was subsidized.

"If you leave your job for any reason and lose your job-based coverage, you can choose to buy coverage from the Marketplace. This is true even if you leave your job outside the annual Marketplace Open Enrollment Period. Losing job-based coverage qualifies you for a Special Enrollment Period that allows you to buy insurance outside the regular Open Enrollment period.

When you apply through the Marketplace, you’ll learn if you qualify for lower costs on your monthly premiums on private insurance. You could also qualify for lower out-of-pocket costs.

Through the Marketplace you’ll also learn if you qualify for free or low-cost coverage from Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)." (Medicaid is Medical in California)

...

"You may be able to keep your job-based plan through COBRA continuation coverage. COBRA is a federal law that may let you pay to keep you and your family on your employee health insurance for a limited time (usually 18 months) after your employment ends or you otherwise lose coverage."

https://www.healthcare.gov/have-job-based-coverage/if-you-lose-job-based-coverage/

Which is exactly what you said.

There is not enough details in the original OP which indicated the person lost their job. Losing one's job is considered a life event, and they should have been able to apply for marketplace insurance without waiting for open enrollment. That makes no sense at all.

In addition, if someone loses their job they can estimate their future income to determine if they qualify for subsidies, not what they were making when employed. In that estimate they would include things like unemployment insurance, etc.

https://www.healthcare.gov/income-and-household-information/

The most important thing is what you said at the end. You cannot assume that because someone tells you something, it is necessarily accurate. Sometimes one needs to go through several people just to make sure you understand what the terms are.

http://www.coveredca.com