By Kenny Goldberg
Covered California is offering consumers yet another chance to buy a health plan.
This special enrollment period runs from Feb. 23 to April 30, two weeks after taxes are due.
President Barack Obama announced a similar special enrollment period for uninsured consumers who live in states that don’t offer their own insurance exchange. They can enroll through the Healthcare.gov website.
To take advantage of it, people have to affirm that they did not realize there was a tax penalty for being uninsured.
For 2015, that penalty is $325 per person or 2 percent of household income, whichever is greater.
Peter Lee, Covered California executive director, conceded that the fine may be less than the cost of a health plan.
“But we want to get the word out that paying a penalty is not the best strategy for consumers,” Lee said. “Getting coverage is the best strategy.”
Lee estimates between 200,000 and 600,000 Californians may have to pay the tax penalty.
More than half a million people are expected to have signed up with Covered California by the end of this year’s open enrollment period. Nearly a million people signed up last year.