Further Insurance Considerations
Eligibility for Financial Help to Pay Monthly Premiums:
Premium tax credits are the federal government’s financial assistance for those whose healthcare expenses are outsized in comparison to their income. If your income is between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level, then you are eligible to receive some amount of premium tax credits.
In order to qualify you generally need to be paying 8.5% or more of your income for health care coverage.
Changing Healthcare Plans: Most private healthcare plans have open enrollment periods during the year when you can sign on to coverage, and in general you will need to wait for these open enrollment periods to obtain or change your plan.
However, if you have a qualifying life event, meaning an event which clearly suggests a need for you to either obtain insurance or to access a different insurance plan, then you can change or secure a plan outside of the open enrollment period.
Qualifying life events are those which change your life-circumstances or status in a defined way:
Marriage,
the birth or adoption of a child,
graduating and losing student health coverage,
quitting or being fired from a job,
divorce or legal separation from a partner or spouse, permanently moving to another state or outside of your health service area,
concluding the COBRA period of continuing coverage, significant changes in income making you eligible for different marketplaces,
gaining citizenship,
and other extenuating circumstances.