The Definition of the Healthcare Marketplace

The Healthcare Marketplace is a website that presents the Affordable Care Act availability for private health insurance to the general public. It is actually the portal where individuals and small business can purchase health insurance.

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare was enacted in order to provide health care for everyone, regardless of the state of their medical condition at a fair price and with a benefit package that offers reasonable and available coverage.

There are open enrollment periods that are available once a year when people may enroll for health insurance in their particular geographic area. People can enroll online, or over the telephone with the guidance of a trained navigator or with the guidance of an approved and licensed health insurance agent.

The open enrollment period for the 2017 year begins on November 1 of 2016 through January 31, 2017. It is possible to have coverage begin on January 1 of 2017 if a person enrolls on or before December 15, 2016.

Ordinarily if a person fails to enroll during the open enrollment period, they must wait until the following year to enroll, unless they qualify for special enrollment.

In order to qualify for a special enrollment period, a person must have a “life event.” A life event would include the birth of a child, getting married, and losing health insurance, such as losing coverage from an employer’s health insurance plan.

The official website for The Marketplace is www.healthcare.gov where a person can go to enroll online. People can also be covered for health insurance by their employer, Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or other ways that are legally provided for that purpose.

One big advantage of purchasing your health insurance from The Marketplace is that if you have a low income, the Marketplace will subsidize the cost of your coverage, or in some cases, pay for all of the premium. You receive credits towards the cost of the premiums for your health insurance on a sliding scale, with more being applied to your premiums as the lower your income is.

This subsidy is determined by a formula that you will input into the computer as you enroll, and it is expected that the income amounts that you enter be based upon actual figures that you use from your prior year’s earnings or from pay stubs.

The current law requires most people to purchase coverage from the Marketplace unless they have what is called “credible coverage” elsewhere such as from their employer, through Medicare or Medicaid, and from other plans that qualify, such as a church plan for example.

If a person fails to obtain coverage in 2016, and they are not covered by other credible coverage, they must pay a penalty of 2.5% of their income, or $695 per adult and $347.50 for each child in the family, whichever is higher.

The Affordable Care Act, through The Marketplace, has enabled millions of people who otherwise could not purchase insurance due to their health, the ability to now obtain coverage, even if they are suffering from the most dread diseases or medical condition.