Just a week to go. The deadline to enroll in health insurance starting Jan. 1 is next Monday, Dec. 23.
This morning on KQED's Forum, Emily Bazar, of the Center for Health Reporting, and I answered listener questions about enrolling in insurance via Covered California.
Host Michael Krasny started by asking us some of the basics. Yes, you can still buy coverage after Dec. 23; open enrollment runs until Mar. 31, 2014. After that, if you don't have health insurance, you will likely need to pay a penalty, $95 per adult or 1 percent of your income, whichever is greater.
But we quickly got into some specifics. One listener said he had been buying a separate health insurance policy for his two young children, but their policy was canceled because it did not comply with the ACA. New policies are significantly more expensive. In addition, he has employer-based insurance for himself -- but his employer's insurance is very expensive for his family.