When I left my full-time corporate job to start my own business, one of my first challenges was figuring out how to maintain my healthcare. I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw what it would cost me to continue my corporate plan under COBRA. When I turned to the health insurance marketplace for alternatives, I found myself completely lost in the jargon-heavy Summary of Benefits and Coverage documents, despite being a well-educated professional.
As I began reaching out to friends who’d been independent workers for years, I quickly learned I wasn’t alone. Anecdotally, my peers all agreed that costs and confusion were the greatest barriers to getting insured. The Kaiser Family Foundation’s analysis of uninsured adults found similar results: 64% cited cost as the reason they remained uninsured, while 22% pointed to the complex shopping and sign-up process.
These barriers are holding back the next generation of American entrepreneurs. Surveys suggest that between one in six and one in three American workers remain in corporate jobs to keep their benefits. In other words, they are so intimidated by the individual marketplace that many choose to stay in jobs they merely tolerate or dislike rather than navigate buying their own insurance. In recent years, however, meaningful changes have been made to the individual marketplace, making it far more appealing for independent workers by reducing costs and streamlining the enrollment experience.
See also: AI and Skills-Based Hiring
Developments in the Individual Healthcare Marketplace
In 2024, a record 21.3 million Americans enrolled in individual health insurance, including five million who were new to the individual healthcare marketplace. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the American Rescue Plan have introduced generous subsidies that bring the cost of healthcare into reach for millions of consumers. In fact, 80% of HealthCare.gov customers paid less than $10 per month for their insurance, after taking subsidies into account.
With these subsidies now available to independent workers, the individual market faces a twofold challenge in the Open Enrollment period: clearly communicating the availability of these subsidies and ensuring they are easy to access. Both the public and private sectors recognize these challenges and are working on complementary solutions to improve consumer education and streamline access.
The federal government recently announced $100 million in grants to provide free enrollment assistance, primarily through in-person support in underserved communities. Meanwhile, private-sector partners like Catch are collaborating with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop seamless digital enrollment experiences that meet CMS’s rigorous security standards. These partners bring private-sector agility (and funding) and fresh ideas to the individual market, reducing consumer friction and attracting new participants.
See also: Digital Self-Service Is Transforming Insurance
Impact on Insurance Industry
The individual insurance market has historically been an unpopular and overlooked niche of the broader healthcare ecosystem. Group brokers were put off by smaller commissions and fragmented distribution, while carriers were skeptical about the profitability and risk calculations involved.
Today, the individual market offers a growing opportunity across the benefits landscape. For carriers, it’s a chance to create products that appeal to the exploding population of independent workers—now 64 million and counting. For group brokers, it’s a chance to drive additional value to clients by serving their 1099 and part-time team members, as well. By partnering with digital enrollment platforms, brokers can support individual clients without the burden of excessive paperwork, enabling them to monetize their existing relationships more effectively.
Through collaboration across the insurance value chain, more individuals can access healthcare through the marketplace, fueling greater entrepreneurship, investment, and innovation in the space. With this collective effort, the next aspiring entrepreneur leaving her corporate job will be able enroll in an affordable plan that fits her needs—in just minutes.
