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Our 24/7 cancer helpline provides information and answers for people dealing with cancer. We can connect you with trained cancer information specialists who will answer questions about a cancer diagnosis and provide guidance and a compassionate ear.
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Our highly trained specialists are available 24/7 via phone and on weekdays can assist through online chat. We connect patients, caregivers, and family members with essential services and resources at every step of their cancer journey. Ask us how you can get involved and support the fight against cancer. Some of the topics we can assist with include:
For medical questions, we encourage you to review our information with your doctor.
Financial and Insurance Matters
The health care law known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA, sometimes called Obamacare) provides protections for people and their families. The ACA gives people?choices for getting affordable health care that provides essential benefits.
Disclaimer: The American Cancer Society does not offer legal advice. This information is intended to provide general background in this area of the law.
If you have a grandfathered health insurance plan, all these protections may not apply to you. Your insurance provider has to tell you if your plan is grandfathered but it can help to ask them as well.
Definitions
Grandfathered plans: Individual or health insurance plans that were in place before the ACA was passed. These plans may not include some rights and protections provided under the Affordable Care Act.
Health insurance marketplace: State programs through which people can purchase insurance plans. You may purchase insurance through the marketplace during open enrollment. There are also special enrollment periods for people who have certain life events, such as losing health coverage, moving, getting married, having a baby, or adopting a child, or if your household income is below a certain amount.
Pre-existing condition: Health problem you had before a new health care plan coverage starts.
The ACA helps people who need it get health insurance. It requires all health plans sold in the health insurance marketplaces cover certain essential benefits.
The 10 essential health benefits include
The ACA offers other protections as well.
The ACA helps reduce health care costs for many people by
The ACA includes rules that help you choose the best health insurance plan for you. It requires health plans to give people easy-to-understand details about coverage.
The ACA also helps set up the process for buying health insurance through the marketplaces. People are able to select a plan either during a set open enrollment period or if they have a qualifying event (a life- changing event) they can enroll during a special enrollment period.
For more information about how the ACA affects people with cancer and their families, visit
? or call 1-800-318-2596.
Questions? Call us at?1-800-227-2345.
The American Cancer Society’s nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (草莓影视 CAN), is working to make certain the ACA continues to help people with cancer and their families. For more information, visit?.
The ACA helps people who need it get health insurance. It requires all health plans sold in the health insurance marketplaces cover certain essential benefits.
The 10 essential health benefits include
The ACA offers other protections as well.
The ACA helps reduce health care costs for many people by
The ACA includes rules that help you choose the best health insurance plan for you. It requires health plans to give people easy-to-understand details about coverage.
The ACA also helps set up the process for buying health insurance through the marketplaces. People are able to select a plan either during a set open enrollment period or if they have a qualifying event (a life- changing event) they can enroll during a special enrollment period.
For more information about how the ACA affects people with cancer and their families, visit
? or call 1-800-318-2596.
Questions? Call us at?1-800-227-2345.
The American Cancer Society’s nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (草莓影视 CAN), is working to make certain the ACA continues to help people with cancer and their families. For more information, visit?.
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
US Department of Health & Human Services. A quick guide to the Health Insurance Marketplace. Healthcare.gov. Accessed at https://www.healthcare.gov/quick-guide/one-page-guide-to-the-marketplace/ on September 15, 2023.
US Department of Health & Human Services. Affordable Care Act (ACA). Healthcare.gov. Accessed at https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/affordable-care-act/ on September 14, 2023.
US Department of Health & Human Services. Grandfathered health insurance plans. Healthcare.gov. Accessed at https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/grandfathered-plans/ on September 14, 2023.
US Department of Health & Human Services. Health benefits & coverage. Healthcare.gov. Accessed at https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage/what-marketplace-plans-cover/ on September 13, 2023.
HealthInsurance.org. ACA-compliant coverage. Accessed at https://www.healthinsurance.org/glossary/aca-compliant-coverage/ on September 15, 2023.
Last Revised: September 30, 2023
American Cancer Society medical information is copyrighted material. For reprint requests, please see our Content Usage Policy.
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