 [ Symptoms ] my son is 39 years old and lives with me he has not had a job since jan 1 2013 and has no source of income  before he quit working he was a self employed newspaper carrier for 14 years and never could afford to buy health insurance due to gasoline and vehicle repair expenses cutting into his monthly profit how is he supposed to obtain health insurance under these circumstances we live in mississippi [ Disease ] unfortunately mississippi is not expanding its medicaid program which it sounds like your son would have qualified for he will most certainly qualify however for highly subsidized health insurance purchased through your state is marketplace it would be to his benefit to shop the marketplace and see what options are available to him he is very likely to find insurance at prices much lower than anything he is seen on the private market in the past given his financial situation if however even the lowest priced plan available costs more than 8 of his income he will not be penalized if he does not buy insurance