Open enrollment for ACA marketplace begins

The Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces open for a sixth year Thursday with more stable health plan choices and rates (Source: “Affordable Care Act open enrollment begins and will test Republican health policies,” Washington Post, Oct. 31, 2018).

During the enrollment season — which lasts six weeks, half as long as it used to be — consumers may buy the health coverage created under the ACA. This is the first enrollment since Congress removed the law’s penalty for people who fail to carry health insurance. With that federal fine scheduled to vanish in January, this year’s marketplaces will furnish evidence for a long-simmering debate: How much of the nation’s gains lately in health coverage have happened because of the law’s insurance mandate, and will coverage tumble without it?

This enrollment season will also be the first since the Trump administration has been taking steps to circumvent the ACA’s insurance requirements, making it easier for individuals to buy two inexpensive types of insurance that cover less care and lack certain popular consumer protections.