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ACA deadline extended: Enroll by Dec. 18 for coverage effective Jan. 1.

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What are the deadlines for the ACA’s open enrollment period?
A list of the open enrollment deadlines for enrollment in 2023 ACA-compliant health insurance in every state. Open enrollment ended on January 15, 2023 in most states.
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Applying for ACA Coverage?
Understanding how small differences in projected income can have a large impact on your health plan costs can be key to obtaining affordable coverage.

Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP)

What is a Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP)?

healthinsurance.org health insurance glossary

Created by the Affordable Care Act, the CO-OP (Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan) program was designed to help create nonprofit, member-controlled health insurance plans that would offer ACA-compliant policies in the individual and small business markets.

How many states still have ACA CO-OPs?

Twenty-four states had CO-OP plans available in their exchanges starting in October 2013. But nearly all of them have since closed. As of 2022, there are just three CO-OPs still operational:

  • Community Health Options in Maine
  • Mountain Health CO-OP (Montana Health CO-OP) in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming 
  • Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative in Wisconsin

CO-OPs were initially supposed to get $10 billion in grant money, but that ended up being changed to $6 billion in loans (with fairly short repayment timelines). CO-OPs also fell victim to the risk corridors fiasco in far greater numbers than long-established health insurance companies. And the ACA’s risk adjustment program was also challenging for CO-OPs.

Read more about CO-OP health insurance plans.

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