How to apply & enroll

It’s important to pay your monthly plan premium in full to your insurance company — not the Marketplace — by the due date.

If you miss a monthly premium payment

Your health insurance company could end your coverage if you fall behind on your monthly premiums. Before your insurance company can end your coverage, you have a short period of time to pay called a grace period

A short period after your monthly health insurance payment is due to pay all owed premiums to avoid losing coverage.

Refer to glossary for more details.

The premium payment grace period is usually 3 months if you have both:

A Marketplace plan and use the

premium tax credit

A tax credit you can take in advance to lower your monthly health insurance payment (or “premium”). When you apply for coverage in the Health Insurance Marketplace®, you estimate your expected income for the year. If you qualify for a premium tax credit based on your estimate, you can use any amount of the credit in advance to lower your premium. Refer to glossary for more details.

benefit year

A year of benefits coverage under an individual health insurance plan. The benefit year for plans bought inside or outside the Marketplace begins January 1 of each year and ends December 31 of the same year. Your coverage ends December 31 even if your coverage started after January 1. Any changes to benefits or rates to a health insurance plan are made at the beginning of the calendar year. Refer to glossary for more details.

If you don’t use the premium tax credit, your grace period may be different. Contact your state's Department of Insurance This link goes to an external site

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for information on grace periods in your state.

If you're in your grace period

Pay all your owed premiums to avoid losing your coverage before your grace period ends. Don’t risk losing coverage

If you don't pay all owed premiums, you may lose your coverage dating back to the first month you missed the premium payment. You may also have to wait to get health coverage.

The 3-month premium payment grace period starts the first month you didn't pay, even if you make payments for the following months.

Example of grace period:

You don’t make your premium payment for May. You submit premium payments on time for June and July, but still haven’t paid for May. Your grace period ends July 31, and you don’t pay for May. The plan ends your coverage as of May 31.

Check with your insurance company if they’ll pay for services during the second or third months of your grace period.

If your plan ends your coverage due to non-payment

You don't qualify for a Special Enrollment Period

A time outside the yearly Open Enrollment Period when you can sign up for health insurance. You qualify for a Special Enrollment Period if you’ve had certain life events, including losing health coverage, moving, getting married, having a baby, or adopting a child, or if your household income is below a certain amount.

Refer to glossary for more details.

to enroll in another plan if the plan ends your coverage for non-payment. You'll have to wait for the next

Open Enrollment Period

The yearly period (November 1 – January 15) when people can enroll in a Marketplace health insurance plan.

Refer to glossary for more details.

to enroll in Marketplace coverage unless you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period for another reason.

If you lose your coverage before mid-December, you're also not eligible to be automatically re-enrolled for the following year.

At your next opportunity to enroll in a Marketplace plan:

You may be able to enroll in the same plan later if it's still available (and you're still eligible to enroll in a Marketplace plan when you reapply).
Whether you choose a new plan or the plan you had before you lost coverage, you must pay your first month's premium to the insurance company to complete your enrollment.

If you think the plan made a mistake ending your coverage, you have the right to appeal your health insurance company’s decision.