 [ Symptoms ] i currently have a health insurance plan with bcbs nc and have been told it will be canceled  my current premium is within my budget however bcbs is now offering a plan with less benefits at more than twice the cost i can not afford the increase and there are no subsidies available for us my husband is on medicare the exchange told us that due to our situation we do not need to have health coverage in 2014 and will not be penalized where do we get the extra 400month for coverage [ Disease ] penalties will apply if you fail to have coverage as long as the lowest cost option available to you does not exceed 8 of your annual income it sounds like you contacted your exchange but it does not sound like you shopped all of your insurance options it is possible the bcbs plan is your best option but you will not know that until you have shopped around if you are not eligible for a subsidy you should also look outside the marketplace which you can do at sites like ehealthinsurance com or gohealth they will have many more options for your to choose from and you may find something at a better price you can also enlist the help of an insurance agent