Dec 05, 2019
In 2020, California will have a new state mandate for health insurance. Under California Senate Bill 78, residents who fail to maintain qualifying health insurance coverage would be subject to a tax penalty of $695 or more, unless they qualify for an exemption. California residents will be required to have qualifying health insurance each month beginning on January 1, 2020.
This creates a potential problem for employees in California who previously waived or declined coverage in 2019. Employees and their eligible dependents will be required to have qualifying coverage effective January 1, 2020 or face a penalty. For most small group policies, employees and waived dependents must wait until their next renewal to be eligible to enroll in the small group health plan.
To help Californians comply with the new state mandate, Oscar Health will allow a Special Open Enrollment Window for employees or eligible dependents who previously waived or declined coverage. These employees and their eligible dependents can enroll for coverage effective January 1, 2020 without a Qualifying Life Event.
How to Enroll
Employees and eligible dependents should enroll just as they normally would as a new hire or new group enrollment. Through Oscar’s online enrollment, follow these instructions:
- When selecting the Qualifying Life Event, please select “CA Special Open Enrollment”
- The only applicable effective date is January 1, 2020
- Eligible employees and dependents can choose from any available plans currently offered by the employer. Plan changes can only be made at renewal
- For groups already renewing in January, all employees and eligible dependents are already allowed to enroll in coverage, per the standard open enrollment rules
For more information, contact your LISI Regional Sales Manager.
