When Can You Buy Health Insurance?

Group health insurance through an employer 

One option is to sign up for a group health insurance policy that’s offered by your employer. Generally, if health benefits are offered, you can sign up for them as soon as you’re hired, whenever that happens to be. If you don’t sign up right away but you change your mind later, most employers also offer an annual open enrollment period. During this time, you can sign up for coverage or change your enrollment to a different health plan.

There are also special “qualifying events” that could enable you to enroll for coverage or change your plan outside of the open enrollment period. These events may include:

• Job loss or reduction in hours worked
• Divorce or legal separation
• Loss of dependent status
• Marriage
• Birth or adoption of a child

Generally, employees get a special enrollment period of at least 30 days after these qualifying events to enroll in an employer group plan.

However, it’s not a guarantee that an employer will provide health insurance at all. As the Kaiser Family Foundation points out, only 51% of all firms offered some health benefits. That’s 8% lower than the 59% of firms that offered benefits in 2021.

Small firms with fewer than 200 workers are significantly less likely to offer health insurance benefits. If you aren’t offered health insurance, you need other options. 

Also, you may not be interested in the health insurance coverage your employer offers. That may be due to a variety of reasons. Your preferred doctors may be out of network, for example, or the plan financing doesn’t work well for you or your family.

If you’re interested in options beyond group health insurance through work, you can look at Marketplace plans and private health insurance.

Affordable Care Act health insurance coverage

The Affordable Care Act created a federal Marketplace for health insurance coverage that includes essential healthcare, such as hospitalization, prevention and wellness, and emergency and ambulatory care. Individuals can shop health insurance options on the Marketplace for coverage for themselves and their family members. There’s a variety of plans available, so you can customize the level of coverage you receive.

Most individuals will have a variety of providers they can choose from, depending on which county they live in. Sometimes, your preferred provider won’t be available if you’re considering Marketplace plans.

The Marketplace has an open enrollment period from November 1 through January 15 each year. If you sign up by December 15, your coverage starts January 1. If you sign up after that through January 15, you’ll have an effective start date of February 1.

There are also some special events that may enable you to sign up for Marketplace coverage outside of the open enrollment period. These include:

• Life changes, such as moving, getting married, having a baby or adopting a child
• Qualification based on Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or estimated household income: Individuals, families and children with certain incomes may qualify for Medicaid, CHIP or Marketplace health insurance at any time

If a Marketplace plan doesn’t appeal to you, you still have another option: private insurance.

Private insurance

Private insurance is an insurance plan coordinated through a private insurance broker. You can apply for private insurance at any time, with no deadline. This makes it a popular option, in addition to other benefits.

With private insurance, you can talk with your broker about your exact health insurance needs for you and your family. Your broker can help guide you through your options to make the most cost-effective choice. 

You can also change your health coverage whenever you want with a private insurance broker. Another benefit is that your broker is available to answer any questions you have, any time. With some health insurance providers, there’s a lack of personalization with customer service. With private health insurance, your broker is there to serve you.

Private insurance plans can apply to both individuals and families. They’re a great option to consider when you need health insurance but it’s not offered through work, and/or if you’re not interested in the plans the Marketplace has to offer. Many times, you can get the same or even better coverage than the Marketplace, for less money through a private insurance broker.

Business Group Health Insurance Deadlines

If you’re a business owner who wants to offer health insurance to employees, you can do this as soon as your start your business, or at any time during the year. There are lots of different health insurance and health coverage options available to business owners. These include:

• Group health insurance
• Health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), including the Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA) and Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA)
• Health savings accounts (HSAs) 

Each type of business health coverage has its advantages. To learn more about what might work best for your unique business, contact us and we’ll be in touch.

Need Health Insurance? Learn About Your Options



Any time of year, you have options for health coverage. At AZ Health Insurance Brokers, we learn about your unique needs and help you pick out a plan that delivers the best value to you and your family or your business and its employees.

Call us at 602.617.4107, email us at quotes@azhealthinsurancebrokers.com or fill out the form here, and we’ll be in touch.