Special Enrollment Period (SEP)
Definition current for the 2026 plan year · Last reviewed July 2026
In one sentence: A personal 60-day enrollment window triggered by life events like losing coverage, marriage, birth, or moving.
A special enrollment period is your personal exception to open enrollment: a window — usually 60 days — triggered by a qualifying life event, during which you can enroll in any marketplace plan.
The most useful SEP detail almost nobody uses: for a known upcoming loss of coverage (COBRA expiring, aging off a parent's plan at 26, a plan ending), the window opens 60 days before the loss. Enroll in advance and the new plan starts the day after the old one ends — no gap, no risk.
Two year-round doors also stay open: Medicaid/CHIP enroll any day, and households under 150% of FPL ($23,475 single) get a continuous SEP on HealthCare.gov. What doesn't trigger an SEP: voluntarily dropping a plan, non-payment cancellation, or forgetting. Details and edge cases: your options after open enrollment.