November 15, 2018

‘Tis the Season: Open Enrollment Starts Now!

The fall season brings cool weather and marks the beginning of the open enrollment period for health care benefits. Open enrollment is a time to apply for new 2019 health insurance, or renew, change or update your 2018 plan.

Benefits.gov wants you to have the information you need when searching and applying for health care benefits. Please keep these tips in mind:

• Open enrollment for health care through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) runs from November 1, 2018 to December 15, 2018. Unless you have a qualifying life event that occurs during or after this period, you will not be able to enroll for benefits for the 2019 year at any other time.
• According to Healthcare.gov, for your convenience, you and/or your loved ones can enroll for health insurance many ways:
  • Online
  • Via phone
  • With in-person help;
  • Through an agent or a broker
  • By mail
• If you’re keeping the same ACA plan, with no changes, you will be automatically enrolled in your previously chosen health care plan from 2018. This ensures you’re covered, but it’s also a good idea to double check your selections from the previous year.
• If you’re eligible for Medicare, your open enrollment period started on October 15, 2018 and ends on December 7, 2018. You can determine your eligibility by taking our Benefit Finderquestionnaire. If you previously enrolled in Medicare, you can make changes to various aspects of your coverage during this open enrollment period.
• According to Medicare.gov you can change the following aspects of your Medicare coverage during open enrollment:
  • You can switch from Original Medicare to Medicare Advantage, or vice versa.
  • You can also switch from one Medicare Advantage plan to another, or from one Medicare Part D (prescription drug) plan to another.
  • If you didn’t enroll in a Medicare Part D plan when you were first eligible, you can do so during the general open enrollment, although a late enrollment penalty may apply.
• Medicaid is a state administered program that provides free or low-cost health coverage to eligible individuals. Deadlines for enrollment vary from state to state. Please consult your state program for more information.

As always, we encourage you to take our Benefit Finder questionnaire to help determine your eligibility for over 1,200 benefit programs. You can learn more about Medicaid and Medicare as well as other health care benefits by browsing the programs on our site. We hope that these resources help you in the process of searching for, enrolling, and understanding your health insurance benefits this year.