Californians Get More time To Switch From COBRA to Covered California

California’s health insurance exchange has announced a special enrollment period starting Thursday for people who want to opt-out of their COBRA health insurance.

Covered California says about 300,000 people in the state may be paying the full price of what used to be employer-based health coverage.

Executive Director Peter Lee says they have until July 15^th if they want to find another option.

“For people that have COBRA and it is not terminating, but it is the end of the COBRA period, but they just want to shop around and see if they can get a better option for them, that’s what we’re allowing to have happen during this 60 day period,” says Lee.

Lee says Californians with COBRA were able to opt into the exchange during the regular open enrollment period, but the website wasn’t set up for it.

He says people with COBRA can also sign up for Covered California once their coverage runs out.