I can’t get health insurance through my job since I don’t have enough hours. I’m trying to find other options for coverage but I feel lost. Can anyone share where I should start? I’m a patient with Geisinger and I’m waiting to talk to someone, but any advice on health insurance will help.
You should check out Healthcare.gov in your state’s marketplace if they have one… the downside is open enrollment ended last month. You need a qualifying life event to open a special enrollment period.
What state are you in? What’s your gross income? Are you married? If so, what’s your household income?
Honestly, health insurance can get really pricey… with employer-sponsored insurance, you might be looking at over 650 dollars a month, and that’s if the coverage is decent—but employers often help with the costs.
If you missed Open Enrollment, which just ended about a month ago, you’ll need to wait until November for a policy that begins on 1/1/26 unless you have a qualifying life event like losing current coverage, getting married, having a child, etc., in the last 60 days.
Pricing on healthcare.gov will depend on whether you have a qualifying offer from your job and the subsidy amount you could receive, which varies based on your income and how many people are in your household. You can view plans as a guest to get an idea of costs: https://www.healthcare.gov/see-plans/#/
If there’s a specific doctor you want to keep seeing, it might be smart to ask which insurance companies they accept. You could look into off-market options, but most plans outside the marketplace and employer coverage might not comply with ACA standards, which can mean they’ll deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. That’s why it’s usually better to stick with healthcare.gov or an employer plan.
Did you recently leave another job where you had insurance within the last 60 days? Or did you have more hours before but have now dropped to part-time at your current job?