I'm in colorado.. just to be clear, we definitely do not have any type of universal coverage here, and Health First Colorado is not open to everyone. It's just normal medicaid.

They didn't care if you signed up when you were injured because you would have qualified for it anyway... you just didn't complete the paperwork. You definitely cannot do this when you exceed the income limit for medicaid and have to get normal health insurance.

The ACA increased the limits to qualify for medicaid. I know there were a few states balking at increased medicaid costs.. but you could have gotten this in most states, including CA.