Guides

Every guide is written for one life event, cites primary sources, and is reviewed by a licensed agent before it publishes.

Costs, subsidies, and the 2027 landscape

Why premiums doubled for many households, how the restored 400% FPL cliff works, silver loading, repayment risk with the caps gone, and the January 15 enrollment deadline.

• Open enrollment 2027: the deadline is January 15, 2027
• The 400% FPL subsidy cliff, worked example by income

Health insurance for freelancers and the self-employed

How to buy your own coverage when nobody withholds anything for you: estimating irregular income, claiming the subsidy, deducting premiums, and not getting burned at tax time.

• The self-employed health insurance deduction, untangled
• How to estimate self-employment income for your ACA subsidy

Lost your job — or leaving one

The 60-day clock, COBRA vs. Marketplace with real numbers, severance and subsidy interactions, and how to keep your doctors through a layoff.

• The 60-day special enrollment period, rule by rule
• COBRA vs. Marketplace: the real math after a layoff

Retiring before 65: bridging to Medicare

The 400% FPL cliff is back and the stakes are five figures. MAGI management, age rating, silver loading, and how early retirees build the bridge years.

• Age rating explained: why coverage at 60 costs three times what it does at 21
• MAGI management for early retirees: Roth conversions, capital gains, and the cliff

Small business owners without group coverage

Covering yourself — and maybe a handful of employees — without a group plan: the individual Marketplace, ICHRA, and the spouse-on-payroll pitfalls.

• Setting up an ICHRA for a 5-person team
• Spouse on payroll: the subsidy pitfalls

Turning 26: your first health plan

Aging off a parent's plan is a year-round qualifying life event with its own deadline math. How to use it, what a first plan really costs, and the cheap-plan traps.

• Student health plan vs. Marketplace plan
• Turning 26 mid-year: your exact enrollment timeline