Chapter 8Where Can You Buy Individual Health Insurance?
One of the primary purposes of the Affordable Care Act is to enhance the individual health insurance market. The law has eliminated discrimination based on health and gender, put standardized health plans into specific tiers of coverage, and created premium tax credits to help subsidize costs. In an effort to help you evaluate your options on the individual market in a single, unbiased place, the Affordable Care Act also created state-specific insurance exchanges, which are now called Health Insurance Marketplaces. These new Marketplaces are available in every state and make it easy for you to compare different plans and receive premium tax credits if you are eligible.
Health Insurance Marketplaces are not the only place to buy health insurance. An off-marketplace plan is a health insurance policy purchased directly from an insurance company or through an agent or broker, outside of your state's Health Insurance Marketplace (see Figure 8.1).
| On-Marketplace | Off-Marketplace |
| A health insurance policy purchased from your state's Health Insurance Marketplace (e.g., HealthCare.gov). | A health insurance policy purchased directly from an insurance company or through an agent or broker, outside of your state's Health Insurance Marketplace. |
Figure 8.1 Definitions of On-Marketplace and Off-Marketplace
On-Marketplace or Off-Marketplace—Which Is Better?
The consumer protections in the individual market apply to all individual ...
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