Your ACA Health Insurance Enrollment Checklist (2024)

By:

Dena Bunis

En español

Published June 10, 2022

/ Updated October 18, 2022

If you need health insurance and aren’t covered through your job or your spouse’s plan, or you’ve retired but are younger than 65 and not yet eligible for Medicare, it’s time to consider signing up for a plan under the Affordable Care Act(ACA).

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, the expansion of the ACA marketplace subsidies, first included in the 2021 American Rescue Plan, has been extended through 2025.This provision not only increases the ACA marketplacepremium subsidies, making individual health insurance more affordable,but it alsostates that no one will have to pay more than 8.5 percent of their income for ACA health insurance.

Your ACA Health Insurance Enrollment Checklist (1)

Your ACA Health Insurance Enrollment Checklist (2)

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If you are already enrolled in a marketplace plan, it would be a good idea to review your coverage during the ACA's annual open enrollment period, which runs from Nov. 1, 2022 until January 15, 2023 for the federal marketplace and most state exchanges. Some states have a longer open enrollment period so best to check with your state to see when your deadline is for making changes.

Deciding what health insurance plan works for your health care needs and your budget can be complicated and daunting. Here’s a checklist of what you need to know about the ACA and what information you’ll need at your fingertips as you make your health plan decisions.

Understanding ACA coverage

All ACA plans are required to cover the same set of essential health benefits, such as hospital services, doctor visits, diagnostic tests, emergency room care and other vital services. All your preexisting conditions will be covered. The plans available through private insurance companies are organized by categories named for metals. Each category has a different combination of premiums, deductible and copays to meet varying health and financial needs.

Bronze

  • Lowest monthly premiums
  • Highest deductibles and copays
  • Plans designed to cover you in case of serious sickness or injury

Silver

  • Most popular plan category
  • Moderate monthly premiums
  • Moderate deductibles and copays
  • Only plans in this category are eligible for cost-sharing subsidies
  • Plans designed to trade a slightly higher monthly premium for more coverage of routine health care

Gold

  • High monthly premiums
  • Lower deductibles and copays
  • Plans designed for people willing to trade higher monthly premiums for more coverage of routine care costs

How to Apply for ACA Health Coverage

Clickhere for the federal ACA marketplace or learn about your state exchange if you live in one of these 18 locations:

  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • District of Columbia
  • Idaho
  • Kentucky
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Minnesota
  • Nevada
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont
  • Washington

Platinum

  • Highest monthly premium
  • Lowest deductibles and copays
  • Plans designed for those who need a lot of care and are willing to pay a very high premium

What are ACA subsidies?

Premium tax credit

  • This tax credit lowers the monthly premium for those who qualify. How much you qualify for depends on your income. For 2021 and 2022, federal law says you will never have to pay more than 8.5% of your income for an ACA premium.
  • If you qualify for a premium subsidy — or tax credit — the federal government will pay the amount of the tax credit you qualify for directly to your health plan and you'll pay your portion. Or, you can elect to pay the full premium and take the tax credit when you file your income taxes.

Cost-sharing subsidy

  • If you qualify for a premium tax credit you may also be eligible for a cost-sharing reduction. This will help you pay for such out-of-pocket costs as deductibles and copays.
  • You can get these savings only if you enroll in a silver plan — and you'll get a plan designed specifically for those who qualify for this additional financial assistance.

How do I qualify for a subsidy?

  • Whether you qualify for a premium tax credit depends on the estimated household income you put on your application.
  • Thishealthcare.govcalculator will let you know whether you are eligible for a subsidy and how much.
  • Make sure to include yourself, your spouse and anyone else you claim as a dependent on your income taxes, even those who don't need coverage, when you estimate your subsidy.

Your ACA Health Insurance Enrollment Checklist (3)

Your ACA Health Insurance Enrollment Checklist (4)

AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal

Join AARP today for $16 per year. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP The Magazine.

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Your ACA Health Insurance Enrollment Checklist (2024)

FAQs

What is one requirement of the Affordable Care Act answers? ›

Answer: Under the ACA, consumers who have pre-existing conditions can't be sold health coverage that excludes their pre-existing conditions. In addition, the law requires most health plans to cover certain preventive health services without cost sharing to consumers— including annual physicals.

How does ACA verify income? ›

Income can be verified by providing various types of documents such as the acceptable list below. One of the most common proofs is a pay stub. If you submit a pay stub, make sure that it is current and within the last 45 days; otherwise, Covered California may not accept it.

What questions does HealthCare.gov ask? ›

Your Marketplace application will ask you for information about any job-based plan you or anyone in your household is eligible for. It will ask you for employer contact information for each person in your household who has a job.

How does ACA determine eligibility? ›

Determining employee eligibility

For purposes of the ACA, a full-time employee is anyone who on average works 30 hours or more per week, or 130 or more hours per month. Employers need to continually track which members of their workforce fulfill this criteria and whether they accept or decline the health coverage.

What is the 95% rule for ACA? ›

Employers must offer health insurance that is affordable and provides minimum value to 95% of their full-time employees and their children up to the end of the month in which they turn age 26, or be subject to penalties. This is known as the employer mandate.

What are three main points of the Affordable Care Act? ›

The law has 3 primary goals:
  • Make affordable health insurance available to more people. ...
  • Expand Medicaid to cover all adults with income below 138% of the FPL. ...
  • Support innovative medical care delivery methods designed to lower the costs of health care generally.

What is the highest income to qualify for ACA? ›

The income range is $30,000 to $120,000 in 2024 for a family of four. (Income limits may be higher in Alaska and Hawaii because the federal poverty level is higher in those states.) The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 also extended subsidy eligibility to some people earning more than 400% of the federal poverty level.

What income is counted for ACA? ›

Include: Wages, salaries, tips, etc. Taxable interest. Taxable amount of pension, annuity or IRA distributions and Social Security benefits.

What if I overestimate my income for ACA? ›

If your income is more than what you told us on your application, you may have to repay some or all of the advanced premium tax credits that you got. There are limits to the amount you may need to repay, depending on your income and if you file taxes as “Single” or another filing status.

Why does HealthCare.gov ask so many questions? ›

When you apply for health coverage or an exemption, your information may be used to: Help you with the application process. Verify information like your identity and any income history you provide. Give you accurate information about as many different cost-saving programs as possible.

Is HealthCare.gov and Obamacare the same thing? ›

HealthCare.gov is a health insurance exchange website operated by the United States federal government under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act or ACA, commonly referred to as "Obamacare", which currently serves the residents of the U.S. states which have opted not to create their own state exchanges.

Are ACA and marketplace the same thing? ›

Shorthand for the “Health Insurance Marketplace ®,” a shopping and enrollment service for medical insurance created by the Affordable Care Act in 2010. In most states, the federal government runs the Marketplace (sometimes known as the "exchange") for individuals and families.

What are the ACA minimum requirements? ›

Under the Affordable Care Act, major medical health insurance plans and qualified health plans (QHPs) must meet Minimum Essential Coverage Standards, which generally means they must: Have an “Actuarial Value” of 60% or more. Cover 10 Essential Health Benefits.

What is the 13 week rule for ACA? ›

To comply with the ACA and reduce penalty risk, rehires who were away from the organization for 13 weeks or less (26 weeks or less for educational organizations) in most cases should not be placed in an employer's typical waiting period prior to being offered health insurance.

What is the 9.5 rule in Obamacare? ›

The 9.5% threshold for health insurance costs

This means that if you make $40K annually, the bill subsidizes health insurance premiums beyond just short of $4K.

Which was a requirement of the Affordable Care Act? ›

One provision contained in the law is known as the “individual mandate” which requires that all Americans (regardless of age) be covered by health insurance (through a group or individual plan) or pay an annual financial penalty assessed by the Internal Revenue Service, unless waived under certain limited circ*mstances ...

What is one requirement of the Affordable Care Act Quizlet? ›

- The coverage must be affordable and provide minimum value. Insurers must provide health insurance to any person regardless of medical history or current health.

What is one requirement of the Affordable Act Apex? ›

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires applicable large employers (ALEs) to offer affordable, minimum value health coverage to their full-time employees or pay a penalty. This employer mandate provision is also known as the “employer shared responsibility” or “pay or play” rules.

What is one requirement of the Affordable Care Act brainly? ›

Answer and Explanation:

The state shall ensure that necessary health benefits are provided. Diagnosis and tests were also included in the law.

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