ACA Health Insurance is shorthand for Affordable Care Act-compliant Health Insurance, which refers to an individual or group health insurance policy that meets the stringent coverage requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). According to the U.S. Department of Health...

An Essential Community Provider (ECP) is a health care provider that serves predominantly lower-income, medically underserved individuals and families. Criteria for ECPs were developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) and the Centers for Medicare and...

Essential Health Benefits (EHBs) refers to 10 categories of services that health insurance plans must cover to be compliant with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These services include: In addition, plans must also include birth control coverage and breastfeeding coverage....

Family Health Insurance is coverage for you and your loved ones in a single policy. It is sometimes referred to as Individual & Family Plan (IFP) coverage or “family coverage.”  A family plan can be health insurance you purchase on...

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is a federal labor law that requires employers to provide employees with job-protected, unpaid leave for specified family and medical reasons. During these periods, employees must be permitted to continue their group...

A grandfathered health plan (grandfathered plan) is a health plan that was already in effect prior to March 23, 2010, when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law. It could be an individual health insurance plan or a...

A Health Insurance Agent (also often referred to as Health Insurance Broker) is a trained and licensed professional who can help you enroll in a health insurance plan.  If the agent/broker works in the employee benefits arena,  An agent/broker may...

The federal Health Insurance Exchange (www.healthcare.gov) – a public exchange – was established as part of the Affordable Care Act. It is also known as the Health Insurance Marketplace. Through the federal and state websites, individuals and small businesses can...

The Health Insurance Marketplace refers to the federal health insurance exchange (www.healthcare.gov) and its related state exchanges (like Covered California or Nevada Health Link) established under the Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare). Through the federal and state websites,...

Originally, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) had two mandates, both of which had an associated penalty. The individual mandate penalty (also known as the “shared responsibility payment”) applied to individual taxpayers who did not have ACA-compliant health insurance. The ACA...