The Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates that all people carry health insurance. If people cannot prove they have carried health insurance for at least nine (9) months out of the year when they do their taxes, then the IRS will tax the uninsured individuals or families for “non-compliance”. Yes, it’s true!
With this said, the Open Enrollment period for individual health insurance policies usually is at the end of each year during which you can secure coverage or change your existing coverage. Currently, in June, we are not in the Open Enrollment Period so only a “qualifying event” will allow someone to secure health insurance. “Qualifying events” can include losing your job and benefits offered by your employer, moving to a different state, divorce or any number of other events to numerous to list.
There are temporary health insurance plans available that can get you through the end of 2015, but they do not comply with ACA rules and regulations for proof of insurance so the tax penalties would still apply. However, they can provide some coverage should a need arise. The benefit of temporary health insurance policies are that instead of having zero coverage, you can still have some benefits to help pay claims for accidents or emergency illnesses. In summary, if a “qualifying event” has not occurred, you must wait until Open Enrollment rolls around again in late 2015 to get individual health coverage that would be effective January 2016. Again, temporary coverage is an option to get some coverage for accidents etc., but does not comply with ACA rules.
Contact us with any questions you might have regarding you current health insurance plans, more detail on qualifying events and / or to plan ahead by finding out what health insurance options are available to you.
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