The Health Care Reform Short Course: Mandates, Exchanges, Qualified Health Plans & Navigators In the month of October we saw two important high-water marks for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) – the health insurance exchange marketplaces have opened and health insurance is now mandatory for individuals. Open enrollment in the marketplaces began this morning, and will run from now until March 31, 2014, with policies bought through the marketplace going into effect on January 1 (to check out your state, see