A Guide to Open Enrollment and the Health Insurance Marketplace

The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 and sought to make healthcare more accessible to millions of uninsured Americans. As of January 2019, it’s no longer required to have health insurance at a federal level, but it is still required at a state level. Insurance is your safety net to protect against unforeseen accidents, illnesses, and so on. If you have chronic pain, pre-existing conditions, or prescriptions — you will probably want insurance. The Healthcare.gov marketplace is about as clunky as you’d expect from a government-run website.