A Qualified Health Plan (QHP) is best defined as a health plan that:
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Answer & full 3-part explanation (select an option above, or peek)
Why A is correct
Under PPACA, a Qualified Health Plan is a plan certified by a health insurance exchange — in California, Covered California — to be offered in the individual and small group markets. Certification requires that the plan meet network adequacy, marketing, and consumer-protection standards and that it provide essential health benefits within the applicable actuarial-value (metal tier) structure. QHP status is what qualifies a plan for sale on the exchange and what makes enrollees eligible for premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions. Without exchange certification, a plan is not a QHP even if it is a good product.
Why the other options are wrong
- B) Exchange certification is the defining element; an agent's license alone does not make a plan a QHP, so this answer ignores the certification requirement entirely.
- C) A QHP must cover a full range of essential health benefits, not catastrophic care only, so this describes a limited product the law does not treat as a QHP.
- D) QHPs are sold to individuals and small businesses through exchanges; they are not restricted to employer group distribution, so this answer limits a marketplace product to one channel.
Memory hook
QHP = the exchange-certified stamp of approval that unlocks marketplace sale and premium subsidies.