Whole New Way to Shop For Health Insurance Coming in October 2013

(NewsUSA) - Thanks to the new healthcare law, starting October 1st there'll be a whole new way to shop for health insurance for yourself, your family or your small business: the Health Insurance Marketplace. Whether you're uninsured or buy your own coverage, the Marketplace will help you find insurance that fits your needs and your budget, with less hassle.

For the very first time, you'll also be able to go to one place to learn about health insurance; to get accurate information on different plans; and to make apples-to apples comparisons of private insurance plans. You'll get comprehensive information about benefits and quality, side by side with factors about price, in order for you to make the best coverage decisions.

No matter where you live, you'll be able to buy quality insurance from qualified private health plans that must cover a comprehensive set of benefits, including doctor visits, preventive care, hospital visits and prescriptions.

At the Marketplace, you'll also be able to learn, with a single application, if you or a family member qualifies for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, or a new kind of tax credit that will lower your monthly health insurance premiums right away. And because the law also outlaws discrimination against pre-existing conditions, no one will be turned away because of their health status. The Marketplace will guarantee that all American have a choice for quality, affordable health insurance, even if they lose a job, switch a job, move or become ill.

Beginning in October, multiple forms of enrollment assistance will be available. These include a toll-free call center; online chats and local assistors and "navigators" to help answer all of your questions about coverage and enrollment, even with selecting a plan that best fits your lifestyle.

Enrollment starts October 2013, and coverage begins in January 2014. Sign up NOW at HealthCare.gov to find out how the Marketplace will work, what the benefits will be, and when the key deadlines are coming. You can also sign up for e-mails and text alerts to keep you on track. Keep checking back for more information about the Health Insurance Marketplace, and sign up for updates to get you ready to enroll, and to take your healthcare into your own hands.

For more informtion, visit www.healthcare.gov/marketplace/.

Prepared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.