Health Insurance and the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act is a law passed by congress in 2010 that requires Insurance companies to pay for certain preventive health care services and honor a system of guaranteed coverage.
About the Affordable Care Act According to HHS.Gov
The law has three primary goals:
- Make Health Insurance more affordable : The law provides consumers with subsidies (premium tax credits) that lower costs for households with incomes between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level
- Expand the Medicaid Program: to cover all adults with income below 138% of the FPL. *NOTE* Not all states have expanded their Medicaid programs
- Support Innovative Medical Care : delivery methods designed to lower the costs of health care overall
Ways to Obtain Health Insurance
Private Health Plans : You can apply for a family or individual health plan directly to the insurance company or through an agent/broker.
*Plans offered on the Exchange: The largest online Exchange to obtain health coverage for you or your family is healthcare.gov. If you live in the state of California, their government-run exchange is called Covered California. For residents of Nevada, there is the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange.
*The government run exchanges is the only place were you can apply for health insurance using government subsidies.
Open Enrollment
One of the biggest changes to the health care system is the implementation of a nationwide Open Enrollment Period .
As with Medicare, insurance companies now only accept applications for new and continuing health coverage at a specified time of year.
Open Enrollment for 2025 is as follows:
Most states open enrollment period began November 1, 2024 and will run until January 15, 2025. California residents have until January 31, 2025.
During this time, you can enroll or change your plan for the upcoming year. To better help prepare, consider your health care needs such as doctor choices, prescriptions you take, as well as premium and deductible affordability.
You can also check for tax credit eligibility to help lower your monthly premium costs via Subsidy Calculator.
After Open Enrollment ends, you can only make changes to your health insurance if you qualify for Special Enrollment.
You can still apply for coverage if you qualify for Special Enrollment--per ACA guidelines. Some of these are:
- Recently married
- Had a baby or adopted a child
- Became legally separated, divorced and lost coverage
- Moved
- Lost health coverage from employer