Health Care

You qualify for Medicaid based on income and family size. If you're eligible, you get free or low-cost care and don't need to buy a Marketplace plan.
Medicaid provides health coverage for some low-income people, families and children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Medicaid programs must follow federal guidelines, but they vary somewhat from state to state.
You may qualify for Medicaid - now or in 2017. The rules for Medicaid eligibility are different for each state. Most states offer coverage for adults with children below a certain income level, as well as pregnant women, some seniors, and people with disabilities.
Under the health care law, Medicaid eligibility is expanding in many states. More people than ever will qualify for Medicaid starting in 2017.Even if you were told you didn't qualify for Medicaid in the past, you may qualify under the new rules.
To see if you qualify for Medicaid, do one of these:Visit your state's Medicaid website. Use the menu at the bottom of this page to select your state and you'll be sent to the right page. You can apply right now and find out if you qualify.
But if you're not eligible now, you may qualify in 2017, when new rules take effect in many states. If you submit an application, the state will check the new rules when you apply.
Fill out an application for the Health Insurance Marketplace. When you finish this application, we'll tell you which programs you and your family qualify for. If it looks like anyone is eligible for Medicaid, we'll let the Medicaid agency know so your coverage can start in 2017.

If you have COBRA continuation health coverage, you can keep it or decide to buy a Marketplace insurance plan.
When you leave a job, you may be able to keep your job-based health coverage for a period, usually up to 18 months. This is called COBRA continuation coverage. When you have COBRA coverage, you usually have to pay the entire premium yourself, plus a small administrative fee. After you leave your job your former employer no longer pays for any of your insurance costs.
In the Marketplace, you may be able to get lower coverage costs

If you’re unemployed you may qualify for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or lower costs on Marketplace insurance based on your income.
Your household size and income, not your employment status, will determine what health coverage options you’re eligible for and how much help you get paying for coverage. When you apply for Marketplace coverage you will report your current income and estimate your income for 2014.

Generally, yes. But while all Marketplace plans offer the same general set of benefits, specific benefits may be different in each state. Even within the same state, there can be small differences between plans.
When you fill out your Marketplace application and compare plans, you'll see the specific benefits each plan offers.

Yes, the value of taxable wages not paid in cash, such as noncash fringe benefits, are subject to Additional Medicare Tax, if, in combination with other wages, they exceed the individual’s applicable threshold.
Noncash wages are subject to Additional Medicare Tax withholding, if, in combination with other wages paid by the employer, they exceed the $200,000 withholding threshold.

An employer that does not deduct and withhold Additional Medicare Tax as required is liable for the tax unless the tax that it failed to withhold from the employee’s wages is paid by the employee.
Even if not liable for the tax, an employer that does not meet its withholding, deposit, reporting, and payment responsibilities for Additional Medicare Tax may be subject to all applicable penalties.

In the Health Insurance Marketplace, you generally can get dental coverage as part of a health plan or by itself through a separate, stand-alone dental plan. Under the health care law, dental insurance is treated differently for adults and children 18 and under.
Dental coverage for children is an essential health benefit. This means it must be available to you as part of a health plan or as a free-standing plan. This is not the case for adults. Insurers don’t have to offer adult dental coverage.
Starting in 2014, you must have health coverage or pay a fee. But this is not true for dental coverage. You do not need to have dental coverage to avoid the penalty.

No. Starting in 2014, health insurance plans can't refuse to cover you or charge you more just because you have a pre-existing health condition.
Starting in 2014, being sick won't keep you from getting health coverage. An insurance company can't turn you down or charge you more because of your condition. Once you have insurance, the plan can't refuse to cover treatment for pre-existing conditions. Coverage for your pre-existing conditions begins immediately.
This is true even if you have been turned down or refused coverage due to a pre-existing condition in the past.
The only exception is for grandfathered individual health insurance plans -- the kind you buy yourself, not through an employer. They do not have to cover pre-existing conditions. If you have one of these plans you can switch to a Marketplace plan during open enrollment and immediately get coverage for your pre-existing conditions.

Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program can not refuse to cover you or charge you more because of a health condition.