Covered California Grants Special Enrollment Through April

Covered California will offer a special extension to buy health insurance through the marketplace for people who say they weren't aware they would face a tax penalty for being uninsured.

Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee announced the extension Friday. He said the special enrollment will start on Monday and run through April 30. People must attest to the fact that they were not aware of the penalty, which they can do when they apply on the Covered California website.

Lee said as many as 600,000 people may face a penalty under the Affordable Care Act. While the extension does not exempt people from paying the 2014 tax penalty, it would help them avoid bigger penalties in 2015.

How big?

In 2014, the penalty is $95 per person -- or 1 percent of income, which can be much more than $95.

According to Covered California:

• A single person earning $40,000 a year will pay a penalty of nearly $300 for being uninsured in 2014.
• A family of four earning $70,000 a year will pay nearly $500 for being uninsured in 2014.

Those penalties increase in 2015, to $325 per person or 2 percent of income:

• That same individual making $40,000 will see their penalty jump from almost $300 to nearly $600.
• That family of four will see its bill jump from nearly $500 to almost $1,000.

In the meantime, this Los Angeles Times reported earlier this week that Covered California sent erroneous tax forms to about 100,000 of its customers. From the Times:

At issue is Form 1095-A, which health-law exchanges must send to individuals and families showing how much money they received in 2014 from the federal government to subsidize their health insurance premiums.

Covered California said it sent incorrect information on some forms because its customer data didn't match what health plans had on file.

A spokesperson for Covered California says they are correcting the information and will send out revised forms.

Enrollment was previously extended until Sunday for people who did not complete their application by the Feb. 15 deadline.

So far, 1.4 million Californians have signed up for private insurance.

The federal exchange also extended enrollment from March 15 to April 30.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.