More than 318,000 consumers have initiated health insurance via Covered California during the current open-enrollment period, which runs through Jan. 31.
The new signup number already has surpassed the 2019 open-enrollment total of 295,000.
“Thousands are signing up every day and we’re not done yet,” said Covered California chief Peter Lee. “Californians have until midnight on January 31st to sign up and not only avoid paying a penalty to the Franchise Tax Board but — for almost a million Californians — get new help from the state to lower their health care costs.”
People who sign up by the deadline will have their coverage begin Feb. 1.
Covered California’s message continues to highlight the new “individual mandate” in California, which requires almost all residents to have health insurance or pay the state at tax time. The penalty — familiar to most tax payers from the old federal policy — runs up to $2,000 for a family of four, Covered California says.
“We do not want Californians to write a check to the Franchise Tax Board when they could get coverage that is way more affordable than they think,” Lee said. “This year there is new financial help that will help nearly one million people lower the cost of their coverage.”
A recent Covered California study found that a majority of the uninsured, 56 percent, were unaware of the new state penalty. Even more were unaware that Californians are eligible for new financial assistance that stretches into the middle class.
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