The health plans are intended for consumers who cannot get affordable benefits through a job, meaning they must buy plans on their own — a part of the U.S. insurance industry that was especially dysfunctional in the past, with companies charging high prices for such individual coverage and rejecting many people with medical conditions. The ACA stopped the practice of spurning or overcharging people with preexisting conditions and for the first time provided federal subsidies to most people buying marketplace plans.