If you want to sign up for health insurance – and get help paying for it – you only have until Sunday to get it done. The health care marketplace’s annual open enrollment period closes January 31 and won’t reopen until the fall. If you don’t have insurance, there’s a penalty of about $700. per person at tax time. Managing editor Tami Roleff has more…
Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, says despite massive outreach and marketing efforts, there are still people who haven’t explored their options.
“People know there is a penalty. But over one-third of those eligible for subsidies that are uninsured do not know subsidies are available. That’s a remarkable gap, given all we’ve done.”
Lee suspects the penalty will motivate some procrastinators – but points out there’s a lot more at stake.
“The bigger penalty is the risk of going without coverage and showing up at the ER and walking out with a $30,000. bill; or the penalty of having a cancer go undiagnosed.”
To sign up for health insurance through the marketplace, or find a trained navigator who can help you with the sign up process, look online at coveredCA.com. Or go to Hi-Desert Medical Center for a free enrollment event today and tomorrow. Enrollment counselors will be there today from 0 to 2, and tomorrow from 12 to 4:30. Be sure to bring your identification, social security card, and pay stubs and most recent tax forms. It’s estimated that 11 percent of Californians are uninsured, down from 18 percent before the Affordable Care Act took effect two years ago. That works out to an additional 1.3 million people in the Golden State who now have health insurance.
