Is It A Law That You Have To Have Health Insurance? 
When you filed your federal tax return for 2014 -- sometime before April 15 , 2014 -- you may have realized for the first time that failure to have purchased health insurance in 2014 subjected you to a special tax penalty , known to tax lawyers as a `` shared responsibility payment . '' Last year , 2014 , was the first year for which tax penalties were assessed for failure to obtain health insurance . You will be assessed a similar penalty for the present tax year , 2015 , unless you purchase insurance for this year . Normally , you would be required to purchase insurance by February 15 - the end of the open enrollment period for the year . However , if you can claim that you were not aware of the tax penalties until recently , applicable regulations extend that deadline and allow you to purchase insurance up to April 30 , 2015 . The tax penalties for not obtaining health insurance are significant , and they are going up in 2015 . For example , a single person with income of $ 40,000 , paid a penalty of about $ 300 in 2014 , but in 2015 the penalty would be about $ 600 . A married couple with two children and joint income of $ 70,000 , paid a penalty of about $ 500 in 2014 , but in 2015 the penalty would be almost $ 1,000 . You can take advantage of this special extended enrollment opportunity through Covered California , the health insurance marketplace established by the State of California under the Affordable Care Act to make it easier for Californians to shop for , compare and purchase private health insurance . Depending upon your income , you may qualify for subsidies that will reduce the cost of health insurance to you and your family . You have a number of insurance options available to you through Covered California . In general , you can purchase a bronze , silver , gold or platinum policy -- the bronze policies have lower co-pays and premiums , but also offer more limited coverage and higher deductibles . Platinum policies are more expensive and offer greater coverage . Silver and gold policies fall between . Depending upon where you live , you can purchase policies from the following private insurers on the Covered California marketplace : Anthem , Blue Shield , Chinese Community Health Plan , Health Net , Kaiser Permanente , LA Care , Molina Healthcare , Sharp Health Plan , Valley Health and Western Health Advantage . If you do not wish to purchase insurance through Covered California , you may still take advantage of the extended enrollment period through April 30 . Private insurers have been authorized to extend enrollment to April 30 -LRB- from the normal cut-off of February 15 -RRB- to those Californians who had not been aware of the tax penalties for failure to purchase insurance . Insurers are not obligated to extend the standard enrollment period , but a number of them have , including Kaiser Permanente , Anthem , and Blue Shield . However , please note that if you qualify for subsidized health coverage , the subsidies are only available if you purchase your health policy on the Covered California market . Two additional quick notes : If you qualify for Medi-Cal , you may apply at any time . You are not subject to the April 30 - or any other -- application deadline . And if you are the subject of certain major changes in your life -LRB- for example , loss of health coverage through your employment , marriage , move to California -RRB- , you may enroll in an insurance program after such event . However , in all other circumstances , if you want to avoid paying a tax penalty when you file your taxes next year , take advantage of this special enrollment extension and purchase an eligible health insurance policy by April 30 , 2015 . 