California Individual Mandate Returns in 2020
Beginning in 2020, California imposes a state individual mandate that requires individuals in California to maintain health coverage or pay a penalty. The California law largely mirrors the federal individual mandate requirement under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that was effectively eliminated, beginning in 2019. California’s individual mandate requires most individuals in the state (and their family members) to be covered under minimum essential coverage for each month of the year, beginning in 2020.
Similar to what we saw in the past with the ACA individual mandate, California’s individual mandate penalty is calculated in the same manner. The penalty is the greater of two amounts, the flat dollar amount ($695) or the percentage of income amount (2.5% of income).
For a limited time, you can still sign up through April 30, 2020 but you’ll have to enroll quickly to avoid paying the penalty.
You have until April 30, 2020 to apply if you just learned about the new financial help available to almost 1 million Californians or the new state penalty for not having insurance. You can still apply even if you already have coverage through a company like Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield, Health Net or any other plan outside of Covered California. After you enroll, your coverage will start the first day of the next month, but April 30th is a firm deadline, unless you have a qualified event/special enrollment period.
Let us know if you have any questions or need help applying for Health Insurance coverage.
