Covered California Extends Enrollment Deadline for Some

Last week, Covered California extended by five days the deadline for enrolling in health coverage for many consumers, the Modesto Bee reports (Carlson, Modesto Bee, 2/12).

Details of Enrollment

More than 354,000 new enrollees have selected health plans since the exchange's second open enrollment period began on Nov. 15, 2014. It was set to end on Feb. 15 (Terhune, Los Angeles Times, 2/12).

On Friday alone, about 25,645 individuals signed up for health coverage, pushing total enrollment to about 1.36 million. However, the exchange was still short of its 1.7 million enrollment goal (Terhune, Los Angeles Times, 2/14).

Details of Delay

Under the extended deadline, individuals who started an application or made an appointment with an enrollment counselor by Feb. 15 now have until Feb. 20 to finish signing up for coverage (Modesto Bee, 2/12). Such individuals must continue the sign-up process with the help of:

• Covered California's call center;
• County enrollment offices;
• Enrollment counselors; or
• Insurance agents (Los Angeles Times, 2/12).

Erroneous Tax Forms Sent to Thousands

In related news, about 100,000 California households that received federal health subsidies last year have been sent tax forms with incorrect information, the Los Angeles Times reports.

According to the Times, Covered California sent inaccurate information on some 1095-A forms, which detail how much money consumers received in federal subsidies to help pay for health insurance. The exchange said some forms were inaccurate because its consumer data did not match the data of consumers' health plans.

Covered California spokesperson Amy Palmer said the exchange is correcting the information and preparing to send revised forms to affected consumers later this month. Customers also will be notified via e-mail when the corrected forms are available online (Terhune, Los Angeles Times, 2/13).