Guides
Written by licensed agents, reviewed on a schedule, and deliberately free of figures — premiums and thresholds change every year, and a stale number is worse than none.
Featured · Enrollment
Initial, General, Open and Special. Missing yours usually means waiting a year, sometimes with a penalty attached.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 6 min read
Costs
Age band, ZIP code, tobacco use, household size and the metal tier. None of them are things an agent can negotiate.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 6 min read
Switching
Check the network before you cancel, not after. Here is the order of operations that avoids a gap in cover.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 5 min read
Medicare
The two roads through Medicare, what each asks of you, and the one difference that is hard to undo later.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 5 min read
Medicare
Formularies, tiers and the annual review that stops a covered drug quietly becoming an uncovered one.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 5 min read
Medicare
The answer turns on how large your employer is, and getting it wrong can leave claims that nobody pays.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 6 min read
Marketplace
Household size and expected income, reconciled at tax time. Why an optimistic estimate becomes a bill later.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 5 min read
Enrollment
A life event opens a window, the clock usually runs from the event rather than from when you noticed, and the documentation matters.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 5 min read
Marketplace
They describe how cost is split between you and the plan, not how good the plan is. And one of them carries help the others do not.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 5 min read
Dental & vision
Usually bought separately, and usually where the surprises are. The monthly figure is the least useful number on the page.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 6 min read
Costs
The network decides which doctors you can see and what happens when you go outside it. It is the most consequential thing on a plan summary.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 5 min read
Costs
Four numbers decide what a plan costs you. The monthly one is the least informative of them.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 5 min read
Avoiding mistakes
Some coverage decisions reverse at the next enrollment window. A few do not reverse at all. Know which is which before you act.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 5 min read
Avoiding mistakes
What no legitimate agency will ever ask you for by telephone, and what to do with a call that does.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 5 min read
Avoiding mistakes
Our shelf has edges, and the edges are the useful part. Here is exactly where they are.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 5 min read
Switching
What triggers the window, what COBRA does to it, and the sequence that avoids a gap.
Healthbase editorial team · Reviewed 24 August 2026 · 6 min read
Tell us the situation and a licensed agent will say which of these actually matters for your case — and which free route might suit you better.
No obligation. We'll tell you if a free option through Medicare.gov or HealthCare.gov suits you better. Monday to Friday, 9:00am – 5:00pm ET.