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 search for and purchase health insurance coverage personally and for qualifying small businesses and their employees.
Small employers (generally those with 1 to 50 employees) may be able to enroll in the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) through a participating insurance company or with the assistance of a SHOP-registered insurance agent or broker. As an alternative, businesses can get coverage for employees directly through an insurance carrier, through a broker working independently of SHOP, or through a private health insurance (with assistance from a broker).
There are also private health insurance exchanges, like the Covered California exchange that has served California small businesses since 1996.
If you have health insurance through your employer and your employment ends, you may be offered the opportunity to maintain your group health insurance coverage using COBRA. You may find paying the full COBRA premium is expensive. It may be more affordable to switch to an individual health policy available through the federal Health Insurance Exchange (or Marketplace) or a state exchange like Covered California, Nevada Health Link, or one of the 12+ other states and jurisdictions that run their own exchanges.