Vermont Health Connect Special Enrollment Period for Health Insurance Due to COVID-19 Coronavirus Crisis

VIDEO: Health Insurance and Access to Health Care. On April 30, Annalee Beaulieu of the Office of the Health Care Advocate at Vermont Legal Aid answered questions about health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare and access to health care. Watch the video on Facebook or YouTube.

Updated 5/11/2020

If you don’t have health insurance, sign up with Vermont Health Connect by June 15.

Special Enrollment Period:

• March 20 through June 15, 2020

Eligibility:

• You must be currently uninsured.
• If you already on a Vermont Health Connect plan, you are not eligible to use this Special Enrollment Period to change plans.

Verification:

• You can self-attest that your are currently uninsured (that means you do not need a document showing you are uninsured).

Applicants terminated for non-payment of premiums in 2020:

• If this applies to you, you will be required to pay your prior balance plus first month’s premium.

Health coverage effective date:

• You may choose either April 1, May 1, June 1 or July 1 for the coverage to start.
• You may choose these dates even if your plan is not confirmed before April 1.

Did you know?:

If you lose your job-based insurance at any time of the year, you have 60 days to get onto a Vermont Health Connect plan. Learn more.

How to sign up:

• Go to the Vermont Health Connect website.
• Review the Qualified Health Plan brochures to see plan information like deductibles and premiums.
• Enter some family and income information into the Plan Comparison Tool to see what kind of financial help you can get to pay the premiums. It will tell you your estimated total monthly cost for a plan.
• Enter the income you expect to earn for the year.
• When you apply, you will also be automatically screened to see if you are eligible for Medicaid.
• Apply online or over the phone.

If you need help:

• Call Vermont Health Connect toll-free at 1-855-899-9600.
• Contact us at the Office of the Health Care Advocate (HCA). Call 1-800-917-7787 to speak with a health care advocate, or fill out our Help Request Form. The HCA is a free service for Vermonters.