Open for Business: Visit HealthCare.gov to Enroll for 2017

The Health Insurance Marketplace is open for business!

From now until January 31, people in every state can visit HealthCare.gov to shop for affordable, quality health coverage.

This is our fourth Open Enrollment, and over the past three, we’ve learned a few things.

• We know that one of the big barriers to coverage is that many people still don’t think they can afford it. Here’s the reality:  Most people shopping on HealthCare.gov will be able to find health coverage for less than $75 per month after tax credits. And about 85 percent of current Marketplace customers and uninsured Americans eligible for the Marketplace qualify for financial assistance to make coverage more affordable. Even people who didn’t qualify for tax credits last year may qualify this year, especially if their income changed or if they live in places where premiums have grown. Take a look on HealthCare.gov today to see if you qualify for financial assistance.
• We know that people are using the tools on HealthCare.gov to find the best plan for themselves and their families – tools that help them search for plans that cover their doctor and the medications they need. People can even compare plans by how much they think they’d spend over the course of a year, given how often they would need care. Visit HealthCare.gov, and try it out yourself.
• We know that people who shop around can save money. Returning customers to HealthCare.gov could save if they take the time to shop around for more affordable plans on the Marketplace. Specifically, people could save an average of $682 in premiums over the course of the year if they select the lowest-cost plan in the same metal level they picked last year. Check out your options at HealthCare.gov.
• We know that people like the fact that they can’t be locked out of coverage because they have a pre-existing condition, or face annual or lifetime dollar limits on their coverage, or be charged more just because of their gender. These are benefits that the Affordable Care Act provides to everyone, no matter where they buy coverage.

Joelisa is one of those Americans. I met Joelisa in Milwaukee last year. She’s a community health worker, and the proud mom of an 8-year-old daughter. When Joelisa started her new job, a job that gave her more flexibility and better means to care for her daughter, she knew she was starting with no health coverage – her employer didn’t offer it.

So Joelisa went shopping on HealthCare.gov, and found a plan she could afford with the coverage she needed. And the next year, she went back to shop again. This time she found an even cheaper plan, and she made sure her eye specialist was in her network. She later said, “as women, we too often take care of our own health last. We take our kids for their checkups and flu shots, but we don’t make time for ourselves… I have to be a healthy mom for my daughter.”

At HHS, we think everyone should be able to shop for the health coverage that works best for them. So this Open Enrollment, we’ve streamlined the process – making it easier to shop on a smartphone or a tablet, and simpler to compare plans. We’ve also focused on new ways to get the word out and meet people where they are – by connecting people with the information they need, especially before deadlines, and working with innovative new partners to reach young people and workers in the sharing economy.

This will be the last Open Enrollment of President Obama’s Administration, and we’ve made some incredible progress over the past eight years. Today, 20 million more people have health coverage. Our uninsured rate is the lowest in American history. Families across the country are safer, and our communities are healthier because of it.

But we still have work to do. There are still people who may be eligible for coverage and the financial assistance to help them afford it, and they just don’t know it yet! So help us spread the word, and take a look at your options on HealthCare.gov today.