2019 Marketplace Health Insurance Enrollment is Now Open

Family Health Care provides free help to the community

BALDWIN– Navigating the health insurance marketplace can be difficult for many people. That’s why Family Health Care (FHC) is offering free assistance during the 2019 Market Place Health Insurance Enrollment period at its Baldwin, Cadillac, Grant and White Cloud offices.
This year, the enrollment is again only six weeks long, November 1 through December 15. If you don’t act by December 15, you cannot get 2019 coverage unless you qualify under special circumstances. Last year, FHC’s enrollment specialists assisted over 200 individuals in Newaygo, Lake, Wexford, Missaukee and surrounding counties.
“Our enrollment specialists are experts in what they do,” says Kathy Sather, President & CEO of Family Health Care. “They help educate the community on their best options and attend trainings throughout the year to be ready during open enrollment.”
Vicki Kuhns, Outreach & Enrollment Specialist, provides these tips when it comes to preparing:

• Before enrolling, calculate how much gross income (before taxes or deductions) you and your spouse will expect to have for all of 2019.  
• Marketplace insurance is a year-long contract for health insurance coverage. It’s set up to carry over from one year to the next if you take no action during Open Enrollment. However, if you do not update your application for the new year, you will not be given all the tax credits you may be eligible for.
• If your employer (or your spouse’s employer) offers health insurance to employees, it will affect your ability to claim the tax credit. To be eligible for the tax credit, you must prove that the employer’s offer of health coverage is not affordable to you.
• You must remember to report changes to the Marketplace as they occur.  This includes changes in income or family size, as well as any new or existing offer of health insurance coverage from your employer or your spouse’s employer.

Assistance with understanding your Marketplace options is free, and you do not have to be a patient of Family Health Care. To receive help with Marketplace Health Insurance enrollment, call our offices in Baldwin at
(231) 745-0437, Cadillac at (231) 876-6583, Grant at (231) 834-9781, or White Cloud at (231) 689-7676.