For 2025, Open Enrollment for states on the Federal Exchange is November 1st, 2024 through January 15th, 2025.

In order to have coverage on January 1st, 2025, you must enroll by December 15th, 2023. If you enroll after December 15th, you can still get coverage, but your plan won’t become effective until February 1st, 2024.

If you are in a state that runs a State Based Exchange, these dates may differ some. See our Map of state based exchanges.

Medical expenses are defined by the IRS as the costs of diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease… they further define them by stating they are not “expenses that are merely beneficial to general health, such as vitamins or a vacation.” The list of things that qualifies is quite long, and includes doctor visits, chiropractic care, Band-Aids, breast pumps for nursing mothers and more. However, some things may seem like they would be on the list, but aren’t, such as over the counter medicine and vitamins. It’s a good idea to review IRS publication 502 if there is any doubt whether or not an expense qualifies.

A special enrollment period is a window of time within which you can sign up for health insurance outside of open enrollment.

Some common life changes may qualify you for a special enrollment period if they caused you to lose coverage. These include, moving, turning 26, loss of job based coverage, marriage or divorce.

Special enrollment periods last either 30 or 60 days depending on the life event and the type of plan you are trying to enroll in.

No. You have to be enrolled in a qualified high deductible health plan to contribute to a health savings account. However, you can use funds from that account later, even if you change to a different type of health insurance coverage.

Both a health savings account and a flexible spending account allow you to set aside money to pay for medical expenses. Differences include

Account ownership

• A health savings account belongs to you. If you had one setup through an employer and leave, that money goes with you.
• A flexible spending account is an employer offered benefit you buy into. If you set one up through an employer and you leave before spending those funds, that money stay with the employer.

When you can spend the money

• Health savings accounts function like a debit card; you can only spend what has been contributed and nothing more.
• Flexible spending accounts function like a credit card; you can spend the amount you have committed to contributing for the benefit year on day 1 of that benefit year.

Yes! There are now several options available for self employed people to buy health insurance. You can explore plans on HealthSherpa, or if you have at least 2 full time employees (including yourself), it might be worth exploring small group plan options. A licensed agent can help you determine if that is the best option for you.