It surprises a lot of people.
Unfortunately, many people are not aware that one significant change in health insurance under Obamacare is that the only time you can enroll in an individual health insurance plan is during the Open Enrollment period each year.
If you missed it, you might be out of luck. Here’s what you can do:
What You Can Do if You Missed Open Enrollment
1. Special Enrollment Period. First, the law allows for some people to enroll outside Open Enrollment. You qualify for a “Special Enrollment Period” if you’ve had a qualifying life event. These include:
- Marriage
- Divorce
- Loss of group coverage
- Moving to another state
2. Group Coverage Through Your Business. If you happen to be a business owner with at least one other employee, you could look into setting up a group health insurance plan through your business. There is no open enrollment requirement so you can establish a group plan anytime.
3. Short-Term Health Insurance. The only other way to get health insurance is to do so with a short-term health insurance plan. These plans offer good catastrophic coverage (a safety net) and don’t cost as much as Obamacare plans. But they’re not for everybody.
How to Make Sure You Don’t Miss the Next Open Enrollment
Let’s make sure you’re not in this predicament again. Sign up for our email list. We will send out reminders as the next open enrollment period approaches so you can be sure you don’t miss it.