Obamacare remains in effect, although its main clause — individual mandate — has been repealed. Its future depends on whether new rules from the Biden Administration and Congress’ three-year extension of exchange subsidies lead to insurance company exits that raise premiums across the board.
Before then, individuals should ensure they take full advantage of open enrollment to enroll and take advantage of all the ACA’s protections and benefits.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known by its common nickname Obamacare, is an historic piece of U.S. federal legislation passed by the 111th Congress and signed into law on March 23, 2010.
The Affordable Care Act has revolutionized American healthcare, from mandating that all individuals carry health insurance or pay a penalty, prohibiting insurers from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions, and setting reasonable drug prices.
The Affordable Care Act also makes it possible for young adults to remain on their parent’s plan until age 26 and allows individuals to sign up outside of open enrollment during special enrollment periods. If you miss the 2022 open enrollment period, short-term health insurance plans still offer access to marketplace plans; however, their benefits don’t match those provided by an ACA marketplace plan and you may even qualify for subsidies to help make coverage affordable.
Subsidies
People with lower incomes may qualify for financial help to cover the costs of an Affordable Care Act marketplace plan, known as a premium subsidy. How much assistance you receive depends on your expected household income for any given coverage year; using more money than expected could increase your tax bill later and reduce how much premium subsidy assistance you receive.
An integral component of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is that it mandates everyone obtain health insurance or pay a modest fine – this ensures all Americans can access affordable health care.
At Open Enrollment 2018, nearly 12.8 million individuals chose or were automatically re-enrolled into an Affordable Care Act marketplace plan for 2023 – an increase of 13% year over year. Experts attribute this surge in enrollments to enhanced subsidies as well as outreach and enrollment assistance efforts.
Open Enrollment
This year, more people enrolled in health insurance than ever before due to lower premiums and improved subsidies, according to experts.
Open Enrollment period allows individuals to enroll in Affordable Care Act-compliant individual market coverage for the year. This typically runs between November 1 and January 15 in most states; fully state-run exchanges have more flexibility when setting their own enrollment window. Individuals can make changes outside open enrollment if they experience qualifying events such as marriage or having a baby, which allows for changes that might otherwise not have occurred within that window.
The Affordable Care Act prohibits insurers from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions or charging them more for plans than healthy customers, which helps to ensure that there are enough healthy people paying premiums to offset the cost of covering sicker members in marketplaces. It also means young adults who wish to remain on their parents’ plans after turning 26 can do so without facing increased premiums when doing so.
Young Adults
Parents of young adults often fear their children will lose health coverage once they graduate college or move out on their own. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), adults up to age 26 can remain on their parent’s policy; it also creates a marketplace where individuals can shop for affordable coverage with subsidy eligibility determined by individual income level.
Before the Affordable Care Act was put into place, insurers could charge more or deny coverage altogether to those with preexisting conditions. Now however, due to ACA’s provisions prohibiting this discrimination and lifetime/annual limits on coverage are no longer allowed by insurers.
If the Affordable Care Act were repealed, millions of Americans who gained coverage through various pathways would be left without health coverage. A majority of Americans, regardless of political party, favor keeping its consumer protections and affordability measures intact, making replacement more complicated since this 900-page law raised taxes on wealthy individuals to cover its expansion of coverage.
