2018 MacBook Pro 15 inch with touch bar Orange Smudge on display

Hello,

So this just happened out of nowhere today, where I noticed an orange smudge on the left side of the display (I put white backgrounds on so to make it more visible in the pic).

It's not a softwere issue, it's hardware. I took the machine to the Apple Store Genius bar, where they looked at it and agreed with me. Problem is, I didn't buy Apple Care and it's past the 1 year mark for the included warranty. Repairing it would cost over $900 (which I'm not paying given that's like a third of the price I paid for the machine). They said the same issue has happened enough with the 2017 models that it is apparently covered under the "Quality Program" (although I personally can't find that online on the Exchange and Repair Extension Program page, so they might have made a mistake). They told me to "wait and see if Apple announces a reapair program for it". Very helpful advice, I know.

I'm just wondering, has anyone else had this issue? Is it common enough to warrant Apple cover it on on their Exchange and Repair Extension Program? Any suggestions on what to do?