<prompt> Human: Hello everyone, My fiance and I were both laid off late last month. same day! much fun! Thankfully I am starting a new job on Wednesday this week, but my health insurance wont kick in until January 1. That means well be without health insurance for the month of December. Insurance from our previous positions expires todaySo, I was wondering about what effect this will have on my taxes. Does the ACA require us to be insured the entire year? Or the majority of the year? How much is the tax penalty for not being insured? COBRA is going to cost upwards of 900month for the two of us, so it seems like a waste. If it werent for the possible tax penalties, I wouldnt even consider it. Im in Texas if thats relevant to the discussion, re: state insurance exchange marketplace. Thanks!  <response>: You have 60 days to decide to elect COBRA and if you do, it will be retroactively effective to when you lost your coverage youd pay premiums for December and January. So I think you should float for December. If you have a medical cost that occurs in December, then youd elect COBRA and pay the premium and have coverage for all of December, including the event that prompted you to elect COBRA.Once youre covered in January, then you will know you dont need to elect COBRA or you can stop paying for COBRA if you needed it for December.You may wish to write out a check for December premiums and fill in the election forms and otherwise prepare an envelope that will contain everything needed to elect COBRA coverage. Give it to fiance or a friend with instructions to mail it if you are in a coma in December. 