If you got your health care coverage, health insurance, from the Health Insurance Marketplace, you may need to report changes in your personal situation. Changes you should report include birth or adoption, marriage or divorce, moving to another address, changes in household income, incarceration or release from incarceration, gaining or losing heath care coverage eligibility and other changes (including becoming a citizen or a change in immigration status or tribal status) that may affect you income and household size This list looks simple, but life is complex and there are many components to each category. In most cases the special enrollment period for Marketplace coverage is open for 60 days from the date of the event. Go online to HealthCare.gov or phone them at 1-800-318-2596. With a life change, such as becoming pregnant or getting a new job, you may be eligible for Medicaid or CHIP, Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Key dates for the Health Insurance Marketplace

Are you ready for the next Health Insurance Marketplace Open Enrollment Period? Open Enrollment is the time when you can apply for a new Marketplace plan, keep your current plan, or pick a new one. 4 key dates you should know:

• November 15, 2014  Open Enrollment begins. Apply for, keep, or change your coverage.
• December 15, 2014  Enroll by the 15th if you want new coverage that begins on January 1, 2015. If your plan is changing or you want to change plans, enroll by the 15th to avoid a lapse in coverage.
• December 31, 2014  Coverage ends for 2014 plans. Coverage for 2015 plans can start as soon as January 1st.
• February 15, 2015  This is the last day you can apply for 2015 coverage before the end of Open Enrollment.

To buy Marketplace insurance outside of Open Enrollment, you must qualify for a Special Enrollment Period due to a qualifying life event like marriage, birth or adoption of a child, or loss of other health coverage. I am not your insurance sales rep, I am your tax advisor. On the 2014 tax returns to be filed In tax season 2015, one of the questions on the tax return will be, “Did you have minimum health insurance coverage for every month of the year in 2014?” And if you did not have health insurance coverage, do you qualify for an exception? Will you be flirting with a tax penalty for not sharing your responsibility for required health care coverage? If you are like me, you try to stay healthy and practice wellness, but we still have insurance – just in case. And now we have insurance because it is required. And no, we don’t wake up in the morning saying, “Gee, I haven’t used this insurance for a long time. Let me get my money’s worth and have an accident today.” NO! Buying this insurance is just one of the costs of living in this great country of ours.