Beyond the Basics provides training and resources on eligibility guidelines and the enrollment process for health coverage available in the marketplace, through Medicaid, and through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). It’s geared towards enrollment assisters (navigators, Certified Application Counselors), as well as advocates, state and local officials, and others who help people enroll in health coverage. Beyond the Basics is a project of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Navigators and Certified Application Counselors, known as assisters, are individuals who are trained and certified to help people get and keep their health coverage. Assisters provide free, unbiased, one-on-one help with completing applications for Medicaid and marketplace health insurance, as well as walking people through the plan comparison and enrollment process. They also provide health insurance literacy education to ensure that people know how to use their health coverage to access health care services.
This calculator compares the cost of purchasing health insurance on the ACA marketplace with and without premium tax credit enhancements. This calculator uses 2025 premiums and will be updated once 2026 premiums are posted. It provides one estimate that reflects what premiums would cost under current law, with enhanced premium tax…
In this Beyond the Basics webinar hosted on October 7, 2025, CBPP’s Claire Heyison covers plan design and plan comparison. She explains the elements of qualified health plans, provides an overview of cost-sharing charges, and covers metal levels and actuarial value, cost-sharing reductions for people with lower incomes, health savings…
Updated October 2025 ACA marketplaces (also called exchanges) provide a way for people to buy affordable health coverage on their own. The following FAQ explains the cost-sharing reductions that are available to low-income individuals and families via ACA marketplace plans, to help them afford out-of-pocket costs when they get health…
October 2025 Beginning in the 2023 coverage year, HealthCare.gov reintroduced standardized plan design options known as “easy pricing” plans. The purpose of these plans is to simplify plan comparison within each metal level (bronze, silver, gold, and platinum) and streamline the plan selection process. The U.S. Department of Health and…
Updated October 2025 The Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces provide a way for people to buy affordable health coverage on their own. Health insurance plans available through the marketplace have to meet standards for the charges that people enrolled in the plan pay when they use medical care, which are…
In this Beyond the Basics webinar presented on September 30, 2025, Jenny Sullivan and Claire Heyison from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explain the marketplace eligibility verification process, how to prevent data matching issues from occurring, and how to resolve them when they do. Webinar Resources ↓ Presentation Slides…
