Covered California has partnered with the Franchise Tax Board to produce a 2020 Individual Mandate Penalty Fact Sheet that includes how to calculate a potential penalty.
Covered California Application
Posts related to the Covered California application, consumer account, estimating income, household size, monthly subsidies, health plans, Medi-Cal, and terminations.
Covered California Wants To Intimidate Agents From Selling Legal Products
I share Covered California’s concern that health care sharing ministry programs are a mine field waiting for someone running from ridiculously high health insurance premiums to step on and have the bomb explode. However, I disagree with Covered California’s proposed use of certified agents to be their foil to limit the enrollment in these products. Agents are not the jailers charged with keeping the citizens within the health insurance pool.
California Penalty For Not Having Health Insurance
California’s individual mandate penalty will require residents to prove they either had minimum essential coverage during the year, have a valid exemption, or pay a penalty. The penalty will be the greater of $695 per adult ($347 per child) OR 2.5% of the household income. The verification of creditable minimum essential coverage and/or the ultimate penalty will be reconciled when residents file their state income tax returns with the Franchise Tax Board.
FAQ California Premium Subsidy for Health Insurance
Will I be able to keep my current health plan? If you have a health plan bought directly from a health insurance company – also known as off-exchange – you might be able to enroll in the same plan. Not all health plans offered direct to consumers off-exchange are available through Covered California. For example, if you have a Kaiser Silver HDHP HSA compatible plan, it is not offered through Covered California. You would need to select one of the plans Covered California offers in order to get the subsidy.
Covered California Premium Health Insurance Subsidy Estimator Link
The Covered California Premium Subsidy for health insurance is in addition to any federal ACA subsidy. It is also available for households who don’t qualify for the federal subsidy such as incomes over 400% of the federal poverty level. The subsidy estimator is an online tool to determine if your household might qualify for the […]
Covered California Open Enrollment Application Changes for 2020
When the Covered California system is in the renewal mode, changes to your household will affect enrollment and subsidies for 2020. If you need to make changes for 2019, you will want to go through the Report A Change function on the home page.
Do You Qualify for the New California Health Insurance Premium Subsidy?
For the California Premium Subsidy, you will reconcile that subsidy amount with the Franchise Tax Board when you file your state income tax return. And this is where it gets complicated and a potential headache for tax prepares. If your income is between 200% and 400% of the FPL you potentially could be receiving 2 subsidies, one from the feds and one from the state. If you earn over 400% of the FPL you will only get a subsidy from California.
Covered California Keeps Rates Low by Increasing Silver Plan Deductibles
I was surprised by the 60% increase in the Silver 70 medical deductible from $2,500 in 2019, to $4,000 in 2020. The Silver 73 plan increased 68% from $2,200 to $3,700 and the Silver 87 went from $650 to $1,400 – a 115% increase.
Federally Guaranteed Basic Monthly Income, Happening Now at Covered California
From my perspective, universal basic monthly income is already happening. Covered California gets money from the federal government and then sends it to the health plans. Whether the average amount is $424 or the real-world case of $2,094 per month, the Covered California subsidy is a real dollar amount that helps thousands of families in California. Perhaps Yang and Harris should study how the ACA and Covered California work and not tout their proposals has new or groundbreaking. The federal government is already paying out money on behalf of millions of health insurance consumers to make the monthly premiums affordable, which frees up money to pay all the other bills.
Covered California Fixes Medi-Cal Error Eligibility
Covered California has developed a reprieve from immediate reporting to SAWS in the event of an error on the application that triggers Medi-Cal eligibility. The one-day delay in reporting the eligibility results to Medi-Cal is outlined in the CalHEERS 19.7 release scheduled to be implement on July 22, 2019.
