No. Your employer is not required to pay for all of your health insurance costs. The Affordable Care Act requires only that employers provide affordable, qualified health insurance to employees that work, on average, more than 30 hours per week. Employers can still elect to not provide any coverage however they will be subject to significant financial penalties. Coverage is deemed to be affordable if the cost to you of the "self only" coverage is less than 9.5% of your income. Coverage is deemed qualified if it provides the minimum essential benefits required by law.

Generally, no. If your employer offers affordable, qualified coverage you will not be eligible for a government subsidy. If the coverage offered by your employer does not meet either of those criteria then you would be eligible to purchase insurance through the marketplace and take advantage of any subsidies you may qualify for. Check out our Coverage Calculator to see if you qualify for a subsidy.

Yes. Unlike government subsidies (discussed above) you can elect to enroll in Medicaid rather than insurance offered by your employer if you qualify for Medicaid.

While health insurance is no longer required at the federal level, there is a possibility that you will face a tax penalty for not having adequate coverage if you live in a state that has an individual mandate.

Right now, there are five states and one district where health insurance is required. You may be subject to a tax penalty if you live in one of the following areas and do not have medical insurance coverage:

• Massachusetts
• New Jersey
• Vermont
• California
• Rhode Island
• District of Columbia (Washington D.C.)

Employers can elect to provide coverage to any group of employees regardless of how much they work however, at a minimum, the ACA requires that employers must provide affordable, qualified health insurance to employees that work, on average, 30 hours per week, or 130 hours per month.

No. The law allows employers to prescribe a 90 day waiting period before they need to make their insurance program available to new employees. After the 90 day waiting period you should be allowed to enroll in your employer's plan. If you are looking for coverage during that waiting period you should consider the following possible options:

• Your parent's plan (available to individuals age 26 and under)
• Catastrophic insurance (available to individuals age 30 and under)
• Individual insurance coverage (depending on your income you may qualify for a government subsidy)
• COBRA coverage (if you have recently left another job and had insurance through that employer it is possible you are able to extend that coverage via COBRA)
• Short term care options

No. If your employer offers affordable, qualified health insurance and you elect marketplace coverage you must pay for the full cost of the premiums.