system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: If the affordable care act requires that people with pre-existing conditions can not be denied by private insurers, why wouldn't everyone just wait until they were sick and then purchase insurance?
gpt
You can only apply for insurance during "open enrollment periods" (the 2015 one ends February 15th) or under certain specific circumstances called "qualifying life events" (get married, be born, change jobs, things that might require you to change health insurance basically). If it's not an open enrollment period, and you aren't undergoing a qualifying life event, then you can't sign up for insurance and are out of luck if you get sick.