The 2019 Guide to ACA Open Enrollment

Enrollment for 2019 is November 1st-December 15th

Better wants to make sure that you have all the information you need to sign up for health insurance in 2019. Choosing your health insurance plan can be daunting so we created this simple and helpful guide.

What is Open Enrollment?

Open Enrollment is the set time period when you can sign up for health insurance guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act. If you are not insured through your employer, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Plan, you are qualified to apply for coverage and cannot be refused.

The Affordable Care Act guarantees–

1) All ACA policies cover essential health benefits including emergency care, hospitalization, and mental health care

2) No one can be denied due to pre-existing conditions

3) Older enrollees will pay no more than three times the premium for younger enrollees

If you don’t have an employer-based health insurance policy, the Affordable Care Act offers the best opportunity to access affordable healthcare. According to Paige W. Cunningham of the Washington Post, 2019 will be the first year that marketplace premiums will be dropping “across the spectrum for the leanest health plans to the most comprehensive.” In addition, increased federal subsidies will offer cheaper healthcare for Americans when they purchase policies.

“This means more low-income, subsidy-eligible Americans can find a monthly premium cheap enough to be entirely covered by their subsidy (Washington Post).”

Even for higher earners, the ACA provides the best chance of affordable healthcare for Americans. It also protects everyone against denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

2019 Enrollment Period

The official 2019 enrollment period is November 1st-December 15th. All plans will take effect on January 1, 2019. This is the shortest enrollment period since the ACA exchanges opened, cut to six weeks from last years 13 weeks. Make sure you don’t miss the December 15th deadline!

Missing the deadline means you will lose your only opportunity to buy healthcare on the exchange. The only exceptions to this deadline are through Special Enrollment for individuals who experience a change in circumstances, such as divorce, job loss, or another qualifying life event.

Extended Enrollment

Some Americans have more time to sign up! These seven states have chosen to extend the enrollment period:

• California: October 15, 2018 — January 15, 2019
• Colorado: November 1, 2018 — January 12, 2019
• District of Columbia: November 1, 2018 — January 31, 2019
• Massachusetts: November 1, 2018 — January 23, 2019
• Minnesota: November 1, 2018 — January 13, 2019
• New York: November 1, 2018 — January 31, 2019
• Rhode Island: November 1, 2018 — December 31, 2018

Enrollment Periods Vary For Non-exchange Plans

You can enroll at any time for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and, if yo qualify, your coverage begins immediately.

Medicare has an enrollment period that ends on December 7th. However, you may also sign up in the three months before and after your 65th birthday.

Employee Open Enrollment

Employees who take advantage of job-based plans often have different enrollment periods. To learn more about deadlines, you should check with your employer.

As importantly, you should research the various types of health insurance policies on offer. As Lacie Glover at Nerd Wallet writes, the cost of healthcare continues to rise faster than workers’ pay, so it’s time for employees “to get choosy.” For example, the choice between a PPO and an HMO or EPO is important for our users. Unlike HMOs and EPOs, PPO plans offer policy holders the flexibility to receive treatment from healthcare providers outside their network.

And PPO plans will often pay back a portion of your out-of-network costs.

You can find out more about PPOs, HMOs, and other types of policies here.

How to Purchase a Policy

State Insurance Marketplace

The most popular option is to choose your plan from your state’s health insurance marketplace. You can find yours at Healthcare.gov or the Spanish language equivalent, CuidadoDeSalud.gov.

The advantage of shopping on Healthcare.gov is that it is the only place you can apply tax credits to lower your premium.

Non-Marketplace Policies

If you are unlikely to qualify for a tax credit insurance companies offer more plan options outside the marketplace exchanges. Online tools like Stride Health or Joany make it simple to shop for plans and request quotes. You can also try a traditional health insurance agent or broker. You can find an agent via the National Association of Health Underwriters.

How to Sign Up

Fortunately, the sign up process is relatively simple. You will want to gather some information about yourself and your family before you begin. This checklist from Healthcare.gov will help you get started.

Help Is Here

This FAQ from the Kaiser Family Foundation answers questions about the ACA and Enrollment.

You can search for local help on Get America Covered, a site created by two former HHS officials.

You can also find advice and resources at Obamacare Facts.

If you need any help filing your out-of-network claims to your new PPO policy, we are always happy to help. Get in touch with us at support@getbetter.co