I am having trouble verifying my identity on Healthcare.gov?

People are having trouble getting through to Experion. Here are some alternate phone numbers for them.

Can my children under 26 be on my Pennie Application? 

Adult children under 26 who file their own taxes may choose to be included on their parents’ application or submit their own application, whichever is more advantageous.

I am married but separated. What should I do? 

If you are legally separated or you are unmarried for tax purposes (this is the case with some foreign nationals whose spouses live outside the United States), then select “not married” on your application. Also, if you have been abandoned by your spouse, you may answer that you are “not married.”

I believe I should get tax credits but they are not being offered. What should I do? 

There are situations where tax credits are not offered, such as for people who have an affordable offer of insurance through a family member’s job, or people who are married but file separately. There is probably nothing that you can do about such a situation. However, sometimes there are glitches in the system. For instance, there was a time when stating that you have never received Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTC) would bar you from receiving tax credits, which should not be the case. The temporary remedy was to state that you had received APTC and had reconciled them.

What is considered an eligible immigration status? 

For information on Immigration documentation types, please refer to this page. 

I am having trouble verifying your identity on Healthcare.gov?

status and the Marketplace, please refer to this page. 

I am having trouble getting my income verified by Pennie. What should I do? 

Pennie has become excessively strict regarding income documentation. They want documentation that shows the figure you estimated on your application, plus or minus $6500. The problem is that on the application you are projecting what your income WILL BE for the COMING YEAR, whereas whatever documentation you have is likely to be what it WAS during the PAST YEAR. Previously Pennie accepted a signed self-attestation regarding your income for the coming year, but those are not being accepted the way they used to. Call me at 412-736-4600 if you have additional questions. 

If I do not estimate my income correctly, do I have to pay back all my excessive tax credits? 

In principle, there is a truing up of your tax credits when you file your 1040. In practice, you often do NOT have to pay all of your excessive tax credits back. If you are below certain percentages of the Federal Poverty Level, your repayments are capped by the IRS. 

Will I lose my tax credits if my income goes up or down? 

From time to time, such as when Pennie automatically renews someone for the new coverage year, they will access IRS and other data to confirm you income. If the data they access is 40% above or below the amount stated on your application, or it is $20,000 more or less than the amount stated on your application, you can lose your tax credits.

How do I remove one family member from a Pennie policy without removing other members? 

Edit the application, specifying which members are seeking coverage and which are not. This will remove the person no longer needing coverage at the end of the month, so you cannot do this more than a month in advance. In the case where no other family member needs coverage, you can simple use the “Disenroll From Health Plan” button, which gives you a choice terminating at the end of any of the next three months. 

If I chose loss of other coverage as my event, will I have to supply documentation? 

Probably not. 

Why am I not seeing questions about HRAs and job-based coverage in the application?

Probably the application has already determined that it is going to send your information to Medicaid.

I am going to change my UPMC Advantage policy mid-year. Will the deductibles I have paid towards my silver plan be applied to my gold plan? 

Yes. UPMC will apply deductibles from one plan to another as long as they are in the same segment of the industry. (i.e. Medicare, Obamacare, etc.)

I lost my APTC mid-year as a result of not providing documentation of my income. I have reapplied with new information and received tax credits. Will they be applied retroactively the months after I lost my original APTC? 

Most likely yes.