California enacted legislation in 2019 that permanently sets open enrollment dates that differ from the rest of the country. California will continue to have a three-month open enrollment period, running from November 1 through January 31 each year.
As a result of the ongoing COVID pandemic, Covered California has opened a special enrollment period for uninsured residents, which runs from February 1 to May 15, 2021. And to give people access to the newly enhanced premium subsidies created by the Amerian Rescue Plan, Covered California is also offering an enrollment window from April 12 through December 31, 2021, for uninsured residents as well as people with off-exchange coverage.
Premium subsidies are not available outside the exchange, and California has an estimated 430,000 people enrolled in plans outside the exchange (directly through California’s insurance companies). Many of them may have income above 400% of the poverty level, which meant they were ineligible for premium subsidies altogether, regardless of how much they had to pay for coverage.
The ARP has eliminated the “subsidy cliff” for 2021 and 2022, so people with income above 400% of the poverty level can qualify for a premium subsidy if the benchmark plan would otherwise cost more than 8.5% of their household income. But they have to transition to the exchange in order to be eligible for the subsidy. Covered California and the state’s insurers have vowed to make this process as smooth as possible.