How To Purchase Your Own Health Insurance? 
Applying for individual health insurance under the requirements of the Affordable Care Act -LRB- ObamaCare -RRB- is no longer something a person is necessarily free to do whenever they choose . In the largest sense , ObamaCare envisions the overwhelming number of individual health insurance enrollments to occur during the designated annual open enrollment period . This year the open enrollment period begins on November 15th , 2014 . So , depending upon your personal circumstances you may not even be able to apply for individual health insurance until then for coverage effective January 1 , 2015 at the earliest . If you have experienced a change of life status event during this year -LRB- e.g. - marriage , divorce , loss of employer based coverage , aging off of parent 's plan -RRB- then you have 60-days after that event to enroll in individual health insurance coverage . It sounds like you would be well served to seek the services of an experienced health insurance agent who can help you determine if you might qualify for any premium subsidy and whether your health insurance needs would best be met by insurance carriers and products either inside the government health insurance marketplaces or in the traditional health insurance marketplace . Of course , you can go to HealthCare.Gov or check out some other Internet based insurance shopping services but I do raise a note of caution about this to the normal health insurance consumer . The health care reform law has made understanding and comparing health insurance benefits , coverage and provider networks more complicated than ever and it is an environment that is still evolving . Getting some professional guidance is n't going to cost you anymore and it will provide you the assurance that you understand what you are buying and why . 