How do I change my insurance if I’m not happy with it? Can I do that immediately or do I have to wait until open enrollment?

If you are not happy with the insurance that you currently have and are wanting to change it you either have to wait until open enrollment or have a qualifying event to change to another plan. If you do have a qualifying event or it is open enrollment the process of changing your insurance differs slightly depending on whether you got your plan through healthcare.gov or went straight to the carrier.

If you went through healthcare.gov you will have to first log onto your account on healthcare.gov or call them and cancel your current plan. Then you can either sign up for a different plan through healthcare.gov or if you decide to not go through healthcare.gov again you can then go straight through the carrier and sign up for a plan.

If you went straight to the carrier you will need to fill out the carriers change form to cancel your policy. An example of what a change form or cancellation form may look like is pictured below, however you should contact your agent or health insurance carrier to receive the exact form that you need. Once you submit that little change form to the carrier, you can then sign up for a new plan. The new plan can be from that same carrier you were using or if you would like to choose another carrier, this is your opportunity. You can also go through the marketplace (healthcare.gov).

This post was written by Katharine Bristow, a Health Insurance Specialist.

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