Only a handful of U.S. states require all residents who can afford it to have medical health insurance protection, and three of them are in New England.

Passed in 2010, the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, mandated medical health insurance for almost all Americans, however Congress later repealed the person mandate penalty in 2017, that means people would not be punished financially on the federal degree for not having medical health insurance.

Today, an estimated 26 million folks within the U.S. are at present with out health insurance coverage.

In 2022, solely 5 states and the District of Columbia require medical health insurance protection on the state-level via native variations of particular person mandates. In New England, Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island all mandate medical health insurance for eligible residents − that means if somebody can not afford medical health insurance or has skilled a selected hardship, they won’t be penalized. New Jersey and California additionally require all residents be enrolled in a medical health insurance plan.

The U.S. is within the midst of its annual open enrollment period, when people can enroll in a health insurance plan for the next calendar 12 months. People are inspired to enroll by Dec. 15 for protection that begins Jan. 1. The enrollment interval runs via Jan. 15, 2023 in most states.

This 12 months’s open enrollment is especially important, as as much as 15 million Americans may lose Medicaid protection when the COVID-19 federal public well being emergency ends, in response to the Department of Health and Human Services − in some circumstances for causes so simple as not having up to date an deal with or contact info.