Things in life are always changing. No worries. We’re here to make things easier.

Nothing is set in stone, including your insurance needs. So what happens if you’re enrolled in a health plan, but then realize your needs — or the needs of your family — have changed?

Here are a few things you need to know.

How can you change your health insurance plan?

There are two periods of time when you can change your health insurance plan: open enrollment and special enrollment.

• Open enrollment is when you can sign up for health insurance plans — usually once a year. 
• Special enrollment is a period outside of open enrollment when you can sign up for a health insurance plan. To be eligible, you must have had a qualifying life event. Examples include:
  
  
  • Turning 26 while on a family member’s policy
  • Loss of a job
  • Loss of medical coverage
  • Marriage or divorce
  • Birth or adoption

How did you enroll in your health insurance plan?

The way you originally enrolled in your health insurance plan will affect the way you change it.

• Did you enroll through your employer?
• Did you enroll through the Health Insurance Marketplace?
• Did you enroll directly with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois?

If you enrolled through the Health Insurance Marketplace or directly with BCBSIL, you have an individual or family plan. Open enrollment for individual and family plans begins Nov. 1 every year.

If you’ve experienced a qualifying life event, you may be able to change your health insurance plan during the special enrollment period. 

• If you enrolled in your Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan on the Marketplace, go to Healthcare.gov  or call them at 800-318-2596.
• If you signed up directly through BCBSIL, go to bcbsil.com or call our enrollment team at 877-731-4649 to learn your options for special enrollment.
• If you enrolled through your employer, you have a group plan or group coverage. Group plans set their own schedule for open enrollment and special enrollment. To change your health insurance plan, you’ll have to call your company’s human resource department or the number on your member ID card. They can give you specific details about your open enrollment and special enrollment periods.

Originally published 6/8/2015; Revised 2018, 2023, 2025