CA Minimum Essential Coverage Individual Mandate: Letters Mailed to Some CA Residents Public Service Bulletin

January 2, 2020

Purpose of bulletin

The purpose of this bulletin is to announce that Covered California will send letters to approximately 2.1 million households beginning January 2, 2020. The letter will let individuals know about the new state Minimum Essential Coverage Individual Mandate and share that they can go to Covered California to:

• Shop for qualifying health insurance.
• Get information about financial help to lower the cost of qualifying health insurance.
• Get information about exemptions and the California tax penalty for not maintaining qualifying health insurance.

Additionally, the letter provides estimates for the tax penalty when individuals do not have health coverage and refers them to ftb.ca.gov for more information on the tax penalty.

Background

Effective January 1, 2020, new state law requires California residents to maintain qualifying health insurance throughout the year. This requirement applies to each resident, their spouse or domestic partner, and their dependents. Individuals who fail to maintain qualifying health insurance will owe a penalty unless they qualify for an exemption.

Additional information

Franchise Tax Board has developed a new Individual Shared Responsibility Penalty Estimator to help individuals estimate their penalty if they do not have qualifying health insurance coverage or an exemption. The penalty estimator is available at ftb.ca.gov/healthmandate.

Taxpayer inquiries

For information about the new health care law, exemptions, and financial assistance available, go to CoveredCA.com.