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Covered California Extends Enrollment Deadline Due To COVID-19

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – California's health insurance marketplace has extended its enrollment deadline because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Covered California announced Friday that the deadline to sign up for health coverage that would begin on Jan. 1, 2021, has been moved back from Dec. 15 to Dec. 31.

"The pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on all of our lives, and Covered California wants to give those who need health insurance as much time as possible to sign up and get coverage that starts on Jan. 1," said Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee in a statement.

About 1.2 million uninsured Californians are eligible for some type of financial assistance with their premiums through Covered California or Medi-Cal, the agency reports, including 338,000 in Los Angeles County.

As of last month, about 1.5 million Californians were enrolled in health insurance through Covered California. 88% of those receive some form of federal or state subsidies.

Those who receive financial assistance, which can include either federal tax credits and/or state subsidies, on average pay a monthly premium of $127 per month, Covered California says.

In 2020, the rate rose by only 0.8%. That came after serious spikes of 13.2%, 12.5% and 8.7% respectively between 2017 and 2019.

Over the past few years the California Legislature has made serious efforts to keep premium hikes low. In June of 2019, the legislature approved a bill which brings back the individual mandate and institutes a tax penalty for those who don't buy health insurance.

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