Shopping For Coverage

"Insuring Your Health" columnist Michelle Andrews helps you navigate the new insurance marketplaces that are scheduled to launch on Oct. 1.

Each Marketplace Plan Must Offer 10 'Essential Benefits'
These include prescription drugs, emergency and hospital care and mental health services, among others.

Two Types of Subsidies To Help Cover Costs Will Be Available
Lower-income buyers may get help paying the premium and help on covering expenses such as deductibles and co-payments.

Applying For Marketplace Coverage Will Also Determine Eligibility For Subsidies
Tax credits to help pay for premiums will be available to people earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $46,000 for an individual.

Health Marketplaces Open For Shopping Oct. 1
Coverage will begin Jan. 1.

Health Marketplaces Are Open To Nearly Everyone
But individuals who already have insurance through work, Medicare or Medicaid don't need to shop there.

This article was reprinted from Kaiser Health News with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.