For women in the US, health insurance has come a very long way in the last decade, thanks in large part to the dramatic improvements and consumer protections brought about by Obamacare. This is particularly true in the individual market, where previous reforms and mandates had rarely applied.| healthinsurance.org
In addition to the Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze individual health insurance plans, the ACA allows catastrophic plans for people under age 30, or for those 30 and older who qualify for a hardship exemption from having to maintain health insurance coverage or pay a penalty. But subsidies cannot be used to purchase these plans, so enrollment is very low.| healthinsurance.org
More health insurance carriers are entering ACA's exchanges for 2022. Here's why you should pay attention to new health plans in your exchange.| healthinsurance.org
An off-exchange plan is a health insurance policy that is purchased directly from an insurance company or through an agent or broker, outside of the official ACA-created health insurance exchange.| healthinsurance.org
As of 2023, the IRS has fixed the ACA's "family glitch." The family glitch previously made millions of Americans ineligible for premium subsidies in the exchange, even though their cost for employer-sponsored family health coverage was unaffordable. This disproportionately affected lower-income families.| healthinsurance.org
According to Kaiser Family Foundation data, there are about 1.9 million people in the coverage gap across nine states (this does not include North Carolina, as Medicaid expansion will take effect there in late 2023). They aren't eligible for Medicaid, nor are they eligible for premium subsidies in the exchange.| healthinsurance.org
While the Affordable Care Act's premium subsidies help pay the cost of the health insurance itself, cost-sharing subsidies help to reduce out-of-pocket spending for eligible enrollees when they select Silver plans. The Trump administration eliminated federal funding for cost-sharing reductions, but the benefits are still available to eligible enrollees. And because the cost of cost-sharing reductions has been added to premiums, premium subsidies are much larger than they were prior to 2018.| healthinsurance.org
Under the Affordable Care Act, eligibility for Medicaid, premium subsidies, and cost-sharing reductions is based on modified adjusted gross income (MAGI). But the calculation for that is specific to the ACA – it's not the same as the MAGI that's used for other tax purposes| healthinsurance.org
The ACA's subsidy cliff has been temporarily eliminated (through 2025), saving some health insurance buyers thousands of dollars per year.| healthinsurance.org