Do you have questions about enrolling for healthcare coverage through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace? Navigate this post for important information regarding ACA enrollment. You can contact us at [email protected] if you have questions or would like to make an appointment with one of our Community Health Workers.

To be eligible for health coverage through the Marketplace, you:

• Must live in the United States
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national (or be lawfully present)
• Can't be incarcerated
• If you have Medicare coverage, you’re not eligible to use the Marketplace to buy a health or dental plan

Documents needed to enroll:

• Basic information, including your name and date of birth
• Information about your household size
• Home and/or mailing addresses for everyone applying for coverage
• Information about everyone applying for coverage
• Immigration document information (this only applies to legal immigrants)
• Social Security Numbers (SSNs)
• Employer & income information for everyone in your household
• Policy numbers (this only applies if anyone in your household currently has a health insurance plan)
• Notices from your current plan (this only applies if anyone in your household had Marketplace coverage in 2018)

Important dates for 2019 enrollment:

November 1, 2018: Open Enrollment starts — first day you can enroll in a 2019 Marketplace plan. Coverage can start as soon as January 1, 2019.

December 15, 2018: 2019 Open Enrollment ends. Last day to enroll in or change plans for new coverage to start January 1, 2019.

January 1, 2019: 2019 coverage starts for those who enroll or change plans by December 15, 2018.

If you don’t enroll in a 2019 plan by December 15, 2018, you can’t enroll in a health insurance plan for 2019 unless you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period.

There’s no limited enrollment period for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). You can apply any time.

There’s also no limited enrollment period for small businesses to enroll in SHOP coverage for their employees. You can apply any time.

Health plans that qualify as minimum essential coverage:

If you're covered by any of the following types of plans, you're considered covered under the health care law and don't have to pay a penalty or get a health coverage exemption.

• Any Marketplace plan, or any individual insurance plan you already have
• Any job-based plan, including retiree plans and COBRA coverage
• Medicare Part A or Part C
• Most Medicaid coverage
• The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
• Most individual health plans you bought outside the Marketplace, including “grandfathered” plans. (Not all plans sold outside the Marketplace qualify as minimum essential coverage.)
• If you’re under 26, coverage under a parent’s plan
• Self-funded health coverage offered to students by universities for plan or policy years that started on or before Dec. 31, 2014 (check with your university to see if the plan counts as minimum essential coverage)
• Health coverage for Peace Corps volunteers
• Certain types of veterans health coverage through the Department of Veterans Affairs
• Most TRICARE plans
• Department of Defense Non-appropriated Fund Health Benefits Program
• Refugee Medical Assistance
• State high-risk pools for plan or policy years that started on or before December 31, 2014 (check with your high-risk pool plan to see if it qualifies as minimum essential coverage)

Immigrants with the following statuses qualify to use the Marketplace:

• Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR/Green Card holder)
• Asylee
• Refugee
• Cuban/Haitian Entrant
• Paroled into the U.S.
• Conditional Entrant Granted before 1980
• Battered Spouse, Child and Parent
• Victim of Trafficking and his/her Spouse, Child, Sibling or Parent
• Granted Withholding of Deportation or Withholding of Removal, under the immigration laws or under the Convention against Torture (CAT)
• Individual with Non-immigrant Status, includes worker visas (such as H1, H-2A, H-2B), student visas, U-visa, T-visa, and other visas, and citizens of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau
• Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
• Deferred Enforced Departure (DED)
• Deferred Action Status (Exception: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is not an eligible immigration status for applying for health insurance)
• Lawful Temporary Resident
• Administrative order staying removal issued by the Department of Homeland Security
• Member of a federally-recognized Indian tribe or American Indian Born in Canada
  Resident of American Samoa

Applicants for any of these statuses qualify to use the Marketplace:

• Temporary Protected Status with Employment Authorization
• Special Immigrant Juvenile Status
• Victim of Trafficking Visa
• Adjustment to LPR Status
• Asylum (see note below)
• Withholding of Deportation, or Withholding of Removal, under the immigration laws or under the Convention against Torture (CAT) (see note below)

Applicants for asylum are eligible for Marketplace coverage only if they’ve been granted employment authorization or are under the age of 14 and have had an application pending for at least 180 days.

People with the following statuses and who have employment authorization qualify for the Marketplace:

• Registry Applicants
• Order of Supervision
• Applicant for Cancellation of Removal or Suspension of Deportation
• Applicant for Legalization under Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)
• Legalization under the LIFE Act

If you have a questions or would like to schedule an appointment, please call (305) 576-5001.