Updated: March 28, 2024
Like other insurance, you pay for health insurance to protect yourself financially if there is a major event such as a serious accident or terminal illness. Health insurance is needed so you can get the healthcare you need, to provide preventive care to keep you healthy, and manage disease to improve or restore your health. Health insurance is also important when you have a terminal illness and improving or restoring your health is no longer possible.
All Americans are entitled access to health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If you have a terminal illness and/or low income, the only thing that may be keeping you from financial ruin is adequate health insurance. As deductibles, copays, and out of network expenses increase, even health insurance may not be enough.
The healthcare marketplace established by the ACA is a public exchange where individuals can shop for private healthcare insurance at competitive prices. It has an open enrollment period from November 1, 2024 through January 15, 2025.
Health insurance is a complex topic that involves many concepts and a wide range of options that need to be taken into consideration when choosing the appropriate coverage for your situation, but there are some things that are common to all of them. They all contain Uniform Policy Provisions that are a set of clauses that outline the features of each policy. There are some that are mandated by the ACA.
Federal law allows you to have a limited health insurance policy or none at all without paying a fine. What you decide to do can be based on your comfort level with risk in addition to your health and financial ability to handle the cost of unexpected medical bills.
The major role of health insurance is to limit the amount of money that you and your family spend on healthcare. Features that do this are:
It is possible to have more than one health insurance policy.
Medical costs are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States, even for those with health insurance. If you do not have health coverage, you are fully responsible for all medical costs and are more likely to experience bankruptcy. There are patient assistance programs that may be able to help. They can be found at the NeedyMeds website or by calling their toll-free number at 1-800-503-6897.
If you are getting health insurance from the ACA’s Health Insurance Marketplace and your income is between 100% – 400% of the Federal Poverty Level you are eligible for a premium tax credit and/or cost-sharing reductions that lower your health insurance premiums.
The American Rescue Plan Act (H.R.1319) — enacted to help with some of the economic and social difficulties from the COVID 19 pandemic — has several provisions to make health insurance coverage even more affordable than the original ACA subsidies.
When we think of health insurance it is usually the long-term or traditional policies that most of us have to renew every year. However, short-term health insurance is available to provide you with temporary medical coverage in certain situations. Short-term plans are usually renewed every 90 days and are not held to ACA standards.
It’s easy to get confused with all the terminology used in comparing types of health insurance, but there are some basic concepts to understand.
Difference | Other Considerations | |
Private vs public insurance | Private insurance is offered by insurance companies to individuals and groups, while public insurance is offered by the government and predominantly paid for out of state and federal budgets | – Private insurance includes fee-for-service, managed care, COBRA, and catastrophic health plans. – Public insurance includes Medicare, Medicaid, TriCare, and VA insurance |
Private vs public exchange | A private exchange primarily sells group insurance to companies, while public exchanges sell to individuals | Public health exchanges, the the ACA marketplace, are government run, private ones are not |
On-exchange vs off-exchange | On-exchange indicates that the policy was sold through a private or public marketplace, while off-exchange indicates that the policy was sold through an insurance agent or broker | – On-exchange marketplaces are overseen by the government, off-exchange marketplaces are not. – ACA rules for coverage still apply |
Indemnity vs managed care policies | An indemnity plan has no restrictions on your healthcare services, while managed care plans have preferred networks of healthcare providers | Managed care plans differ mainly in your ability to access network and non-network providers, or being responsible for costs for non-network providers in the event of an emergency |
Group vs individual insurance policy | Group insurance includes many insured, while individual insurance is for individuals or families | Most group insurance plans are offered by employers, while individual plans are offered by the healthcare marketplace, although they can be purchased through private insurers |