Hi everyone! I appreciate any and all answers here. So I just filed my taxes for 2024 and my HR Block representative said that she urges me to switch from Covered California as soon as possible. In 2024 I had medical issues that caused me to lose my job so I switched from employer provided insurance to Covered California starting last May 2024 with the cost being $94/month. Then in August 2024 I got a new job and received a significant pay bump ($21/hr to $31/hr) and I did not know that I was supposed to report my new income to Covered California. In December 2024 after my surgery (to deal with the aforementioned medical issue) I contacted Covered California about renewing for 2025 and during that conversation I found out that I was supposed to report my income change. That led to my rate increasing to $294/month and the worker told me that I will also be facing a tax penalty and backpay for not letting them know about my new monthly income. When I prepared my taxes a few days ago she revealed that the backpay was a total of $1,100 and she said that she's seen this with a lot of her clients and even herself. She stated that with my line of work I will most likely earn more than I anticipate this year and will most likely pay even more taxes to the IRS with Covered California. She urged me to get on a new health insurance plan asap. **My current options are to contact the company that I work with (it's a third party company that I get pay from as a contractor even though I work full time hours). OR I can contact individual insurance companies and try to just get a rate directly with them.** **My questions are** **1) Am I even able to switch my insurance this late into the year? I don't have a major qualifying event aside from just wanting to leave Covered California.** **2) Are the options that I mentioned above correct or are there other solutions that I am not aware of?**

Brother moved to California on Thursday and immediately needed emergency services. Covered California's website says people can enroll within 60 days of moving here but the social worker at the hospital says he can't apply to medi-cal because he's not been a resident for 60 days. We've been getting conflicting information. I'm hoping I can find some help/clarification here. He's early 40s and has no income