They’re the same thing.
Enrollment dates are November 1-December 15. Enroll now at healthcare.gov.
Okay. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s define ACA. It stands for Affordable Care Act. It was enacted in March 2010 with the goal to make affordable health insurance available to everyone in the US. It was to do this through subsidies, or tax credits, and also through the expansion of Medicaid. The goal was to lower health care costs. We all know that’s not happened yet.
Except for us. Ours are perhaps going lower next year. We do not participate in the ACA, although we have used healthcare.gov to look at available plans in the past. For 2020, looks like we are going with a ‘silver’ plan. The premium will go up around $60, but once we hit the deductible - obviously going to happen - our overall out of pocket should be less in 2020 than it was in 2019. I guess no more gambling on cheaper insurances for me!
Focus. Sorry, I got off track a bit.
People in all 50 states can buy health insurance on the private market or via the marketplace (again, healthcare.gov).
The Medicaid expansion is only currently available in 33 states and DC. I always was a little confused by why some states didn’t expand it. The Federal Government was offering ‘free’ money - yes, it’s being paid for by tax dollars, that’s what taxes do - to expand Medicaid in the bill. Several states have put the expansion on the ballot and it turns out people like having health care. Who knew?
I do know that the reason that the Medicaid expansion didn’t happen everywhere is becaus some states sued and the Supreme Court ruled they didn’t have to do the expansion if they didn’t want to.
I’m looking at a map on kff.org and another on healthinsurance.org. It’s interesting where the expansion hasn’t occurred. Anyway! I live in a state that is trying to cover everyone, so that’s good.
I will freely admit that I am of the belief that you shouldn’t only get health care because you can afford it, and that you shouldn’t have to use the emergency department of a hospital as your primary care doctor because you can’t afford to go to a regular doctor. This system drives up costs for everyone. And I am no more human than a single mother living on a shoestring budget. I don’t deserve health care more than anyone else. I’m just lucky enough to be able to afford it, even if the costs are prohibitive. I can plan my future income to compensate for the higher monthly costs. Many Americans are not able to do this. Not because they are terrible at budgeting - I’m not great with it, but I’m learning - but because they barely make enough to pay their monthly bills.
So, I hope you are able to sign up for health insurance! Because I had insurance and I was getting screened due to family history, we found my cancer in a ridiculously early stage. If I’d only waited until I was 40 to get screened? I don’t know. I’m sure the tumor would have been much larger, and perhaps would have started spreading to my lymph nodes at least.
Scary.