Open enrollment in California’s Covered California (Cal) began Nov. 1 and will end Jan. 31, 2023. Signing up soon will ensure coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2023. Open enrollment is the time of year when eligible consumers can sign up for health insurance.
Although nearly 1.7 million Californians already get health insurance through Covered Cal, an estimated 1 million people remain uninsured and eligible to get insured at low-cost or no-cost through Covered Cal or Medi-Cal.
Also, middle-income consumers — both uninsured and those who purchase coverage directly from a health insurance company — may save thousands of dollars a year if they sign up through Covered Cal, according to its press release.
“Millions of Californians now have access to affordable health coverage and now is the time to go sign up for health insurance to keep yourself and your family healthy,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom. “… more Californians than ever before are insured with quality health coverage through Covered California. We won’t stop until every Californian — regardless of income or immigration status — has the health insurance they need and deserve.”
Since Covered California’s first open-enrollment period in 2013, federal data shows that California’s uninsured rate fell from 17.2% to a record low 7% in 2021, which is the largest percentage point drop for any state in the nation over this time period.
Of the 1 million currently without health insurance, Covered Cal estimates that slightly less than half are eligible for significant financial help that will lower the cost of their monthly health insurance premiums. Already, 90% of Covered Cal’s enrollees qualify for financial help. Their financial help provides an average monthly savings of about $475 per month, Covered Cal said.
“Regardless of your income, if you need health insurance or if you’re covered directly through a health insurance company, come to Covered California to see if you can get financial help to make your insurance more affordable,” said Jessica Altman, executive director of Covered Cal. “The increased and expanded financial help that was extended by the Inflation Reduction Act is changing lives by helping more Californians get covered and stay covered.”
How to sign up or contact Covered Cal
Consumers may visit Covered Cal at www.coveredca.com. There they can find out if they qualify for financial help and see the coverage options for the Hill.
The only information needed is household income, ZIP code, household size, and the number of people who need coverage and their ages. With that and the Covered Cal calculator, which is on Covered California’s homepage, health insurance options will be presented.
Free and confidential assistance from a certified enroller is available over the phone, in a variety of languages. Or visitors can request that a certified enroller call them and help them for free. The Covered Cal phone number
