The Obama Administration has opened a special enrollment period for health insurance through the federal exchange.
The federal government is betting people who did not sign up for insurance last year are now noticing they will be paying a penalty on their 2014 taxes, which are due next month.
So the hope is by opening up a special enrollment period, those same folks will buy policies so they will not have another penalty on their 2015 taxes.
Those penalties will rise in the next two years. In 2016 they will hit a maximum of $695 per person, or 2.5% of household income, whichever is greater. For a family of four with a $60,000 income, that’s a penalty $1,500 dollars.
The special enrollment period will end April 30.
