Get Covered Illinois

What is Get Covered Illinois?

Get Covered Illinois is the state’s official health insurance marketplace. 

If you do not get coverage through a job or public programs, you can shop on the marketplace for a health plan that fits your needs. Get Covered Illinois is also the only place to get financial help to cover the costs of your coverage.

You can trust that all the Get Covered Illinois plans are state vetted.  

When Can I Enroll?

Anyone can apply for marketplace coverage during open enrollment, which begins on November 1st. Below are the enrollment dates and deadlines:

If you enroll between November 1st – December 15: January 1st Effective Date

If you enroll between December 16th – January 15th: February 1st Effective Date

What if I Miss the Enrollment Deadline? 

The 2026 Illinois open enrollement through Get Covered Illinois has been extended until December 31st, 2025 for a January 1st, 2026 start date.

If you miss open enrollment but have a qualifying life event, you can apply during a Special Enrollment Period if you have a Qualifying Life Event. If you are eligible for a Special Enrollment Period, you usually have 60 days after the event to enroll in a plan. Some life events can be reported 60 days in advance. Some life events require proof to qualify for a Special Enrollment Period.

Qualifying Life Events Include: 

• Changes in household
• Changes in residence
• Changes in employment or income
• Turning 26 and aging off a parent’s plan
• Gaining U.S. citizenship
• Loss of health insurance
• and more

Easy Enrollment: Check a Box on Your Illinois Tax Return

The Illinois Easy Enrollment Program lets you indicate interest in health coverage when filing your Illinois individual income tax return (the Health Insurance box, Line 42 on the IL-1040). If you check the box, the Illinois Department of Revenue shares limited tax data (such as TIN/SSN, name, date of birth, address, household income and size) with Get Covered Illinois, which creates or updates your GCIL account and generates an eligibility estimate for you and your dependents. You will receive an “Easy Enrollment” letter from Get Covered Illinois with a 60-day Special Enrollment Period beginning the day the notice is generated, and coverage is effective the first of the month following plan selection. This SEP is only available through the Department of Revenue data transfer – it cannot be selected on its own – and it is a helpful second chance to enroll if you missed Open Enrollment. Participation is voluntary and does not affect your tax return or refund.

Pregnancy Special Enrollment Period

You can enroll in individual and family coverage within 60 days after a qualified health care professional (including a licensed certified professional midwife) certifies you are pregnant. This SEP is available to the pregnant individual and their eligible dependents. If the pregnant individual is not currently enrolled in a Qualified Health Plan, they may choose an effective date of either the first day of the month in which the certification occurred or the first day of the month following plan selection. If already enrolled in a QHP, they and any eligible unenrolled household members may enroll in a new plan effective the first day of the month following plan selection. To access this SEP, you must answer “Yes” to the pregnancy question on the application (this question only displays for individuals who indicate their sex assigned at birth is female). Depending on household income, you may instead be eligible for Moms & Babies coverage through Illinois Medicaid. All Marketplace plans cover maternity care, including prenatal visits and screenings, labor and delivery, hospital stays, breastfeeding support and breast pumps, and newborn care.

How Do I Get Started? 

The 11-minute video below provides a step-by-step guide on how to register for the Get Covered Illinois portal and start/complete your application which will allow you to then pick a health plan. 

Accessing the Website and Logging In/Registering (0:12–1:11)

Adding a Broker (1:33–2:42)

Starting and Completing the Application (2:45–5:21)

Picking a Health Plan (5:42–9:02)

Enrolling in the Selected Plan (9:04–10:04)

How Do I Designate a Broker…and why? 

The video explains how to designate a broker to your account on the GCIL Portal. Designating a broker allows them to assist you with your application, access plan information, and answer any questions you may have, which is crucial due to CMS regulations. Without designating a broker, they will not be able to assist you.

Get Covered Illinois – Broker Delegation Instructions

Step-by-Step: The GCIL Application Process

Here is what to expect when you complete a Get Covered Illinois application, from gathering documents to submitting and reviewing your eligibility results.

1. Gather your information first. Have the following ready for yourself and every household family member: names as they appear on legal documents, addresses, Social Security Numbers (you can still apply without an SSN), immigration status/documents (such as an Alien Registration Number), dates of birth, driver's license (if available), your most recent 4 weeks of pay stubs, most recent tax returns, and other income documents (rental income, tips, pension payments, Social Security, etc.). GCIL only needs the information from these documents, not the documents themselves, unless your information cannot be verified.
2. Verify your identity. Select Get Started and enter your information exactly as it appears on your legal documents. Your residential address must be a physical address - P.O. Boxes cannot be used. If the system cannot uniquely identify you, you may be asked to upload documents for manual verification.
3. Review the privacy acknowledgement. GCIL verifies your answers using federal and state data sources (such as the Social Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security, and IRS) and may ask for additional documentation if information does not match.
4. Include the right people. Only one application is needed per tax household - the taxpayer, their spouse (if applicable), and anyone claimed as a tax dependent on the same federal return. Include ALL tax household members even if they are not seeking coverage. Do not include an unmarried partner, an unmarried partner's children (unless they are your tax dependents), or parents/relatives who file their own tax returns. Answer "No" to the marital status question if you are unmarried for tax-filing purposes, filing separately due to domestic violence or spousal abandonment, or legally separated or divorced.
5. Set your contact preferences. Choose your language, how you want to be contacted, and whether to receive your 1095-A form electronically (Go Paperless) or by mail. Copies of notices and forms are always sent to your secure GCIL online mailbox, and you can opt in to text alerts.
6. Tell GCIL who is helping you. On the "Help Applying for Coverage" screen, select "I am being assisted by a certified professional (broker or assister)" so your broker can be appointed to your account and assist you - without this, we cannot help with your application.
7. Answer the coverage and financial help questions. You will be asked about existing health coverage and whether you want help paying for coverage - answer "Yes" to find out if you qualify for Medicaid/All Kids or Marketplace tax credits. A summary page at the end of each section lets you review and edit your answers.
8. Enter personal information for each household member. This includes ethnicity, citizenship, military service, pregnancy status, and any disabilities or functional limitations. If anyone was denied Medicaid/All Kids within the past 90 days, you will enter the date of the denial.
9. Enter your income information. Eligibility for financial help is based on your expected household income for the year you are seeking coverage, not last year's tax return. Add every current income source for each member: job, self-employment, pension, retirement, Social Security, rental or royalty, capital gains, unemployment, alimony received, investment, farming or fishing, scholarship, and other income.
10. Add any deductions. Alimony paid, student loan interest, and certain other deductions are factored into your income determination.
11. Review your income summary. GCIL calculates your projected annual income from what you entered - confirm it is accurate before continuing.
12. Answer the final questions. These cover other health coverage (like Medicare), prior Advance Premium Tax Credit (APTC) reconciliation, employer-sponsored coverage offers, and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs).
13. Final review, sign, and submit. Review all household and demographic information (you can download or print a copy), check each attestation, electronically sign by typing your full name exactly as it appears on the application, and select Submit Application.
14. Check your eligibility results and watch for Data Matching Issues (DMIs). After you submit, GCIL displays an eligibility summary for each household member. If something could not be verified, the summary shows a Documents Required action and a banner appears on your dashboard - you have 90 days to upload the requested documentation to confirm your eligibility.

Want a hand with any of these steps? We walk clients through the GCIL application every day - call 312.726.6565 and we will do it with you.

How Is Financial Help Calculated?

Financial help through Get Covered Illinois is based on the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) guidelines. Marketplace eligibility determinations use the prior year's FPL - for example, eligibility for Marketplace financial assistance during Plan Year 2027 is based on the 2026 FPL guidelines. Medicaid and All Kids eligibility determinations use the current year's FPL instead.

You can choose to apply all, some, or none of your Advance Premium Tax Credit (APTC) to lower your monthly premium costs. Any remaining APTC may be claimed when you file your federal income tax return, if eligible.

What Tax Forms Will I Receive? (1095-A and 8962)

If you received APTC during the year, you are responsible for filing a federal tax return using Forms 1095-A and 8962 to reconcile the APTC you received with the final Premium Tax Credit (PTC) amount you are eligible for based on your actual year-end income and other eligibility factors.

Starting with Plan Year 2026, Get Covered Illinois provides your end-of-year tax information via Form 1095-A:

• Get Covered Illinois will issue 1095-A forms for PY 2026 coverage by January 31, 2027.
• Form 1095-A provides information about your Marketplace coverage. You will use it to complete Form 8962.
• Form 8962 is used to figure your Premium Tax Credit and reconcile it with any advance payments. Anyone who received APTC must file a federal tax return for the year they received it.
• If you believe there is an error on your 1095-A and it does not reflect the coverage you actually received, contact the Get Covered Illinois Customer Assistance Center at (866) 311-1119 (TTY: 711). GCIL will review and issue a corrected form if appropriate.

What Is Changing Under H.R.1?

Federal legislation H.R.1 (Public Law 119-21) is changing how Premium Tax Credits, Medicaid, and Marketplace enrollment work between 2026 and 2028 - including the elimination of APTC repayment caps, new eligibility rules for lawfully present immigrants, the end of PTC through the income-based SEP, Medicaid work requirements, and six-month redeterminations.

We break down every change in plain English on our dedicated page: H.R.1 Health Coverage Changes in Illinois (2026-2028).

What Is Medicaid Spenddown?

Medicaid Spenddown allows individuals whose income and/or assets are too high for standard Medicaid to enroll in the Spenddown program, in which Medicaid coverage only kicks in once the "Spenddown" amount has been met.

The spenddown amount is the difference between the income and/or asset limit for the type of benefit applied for and the family income. Children under age 19, pregnant women, and the AABD coverage groups are the only groups that can qualify for spenddown. Individuals may meet their spenddown in one of two ways:

• Accumulate bills and receipts of medical expenses on a monthly basis and provide them to the Department of Human Services, Family Community Resource Center (DHS FCRC).
• Pay their spenddown amount to HFS by enrolling in the Pay-In program. Monthly statements of the spenddown amount are issued to the client, providing the opportunity to meet spenddown through money order, cashier's check, debit or credit card payment. Additional information on the Pay-In program can be found on the department's Medical Brochures page.

If a customer has 6 months of unmet spenddown they will lose Medicaid coverage.

Spenddown is not considered Minimum Essential Coverage, so someone who only qualifies for Spenddown (because they are over-income for Medicaid) is eligible for the Marketplace.

Not sure how these changes affect you? Call us at 312.726.6565 - we are happy to walk you through it.