Marketplace for 2019 is now open from November 1st and runs through December 15th. You can still enroll outside the open enrollment period but only if you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period. If you enroll outside of the allowed period it should be because you have a life changing event. These events generally include marriage, having a baby or being terminated fro your job causing you to lose health coverage. Marketplace enrollment applies to people in the United States who do not receive health insurance through a government program or employer. There are a few things that you should know about open enrollment:
- Open enrollment is open for six weeks. As already stated, marketplace open enrollment is active from November 1st to December 15th. For people that do not select a healthcare plan by the deadline will be automatically re-enrolled into the former plan or similar.
- You will not be fined for not having coverage thanks in part to the tax bill signed by the president. The individual mandate fee used to be 2.5 percent of your income or $695 per individual. But if you were not insured in 2018 you will still have to pay a penalty.
- Maintenance will cause the website healthcare.gov to go offline. The administration has scheduled the website to undergo maintenance during open enrollment every Sunday. The website will go offline for 12 hours from midnight until noon except on December 9th.
- Be aware of marketplace enrollment as there will be limited commercials. The administration has cut down the budget from promoting and assistance during open enrollment. Navigators will be limited as less grants were given by the federal government to help customers sign up for coverage.
- Healthcare plans can be purchased outside of the marketplace rules. Several people may look for plans outside as rate increases may seem too high. The administration created short-term plans of one-year policies for these individuals and can renew these plans twice in three years. Short-term plans are less expensive than those on marketplace but are not available in it either. Short-term plans are not obligated to cover specific medical services and are not sold to people with pre-existing conditions.
- Premiums in the marketplace are set to drop by an average of 1.5 percent. What you pay for premiums will vary on how much your total income is. For 2019, you will get subsidies when your income is below $48,00 a year for an individual and $100,00 for a family of four. Other factors that will affect your premium include where you live, smoking status and your age. There will also be more options in the marketplace as twenty-three more insurers will be entering the exchange and twenty-nine of them are expanding.
Contact us today to get you started on your application for marketplace open enrollment.