CBS News (12/20/13)

The Obama administration is offering stopgap options so people whose existing health insurance plans have been canceled aren’t penalized. Monday, Dec. 23, is the deadline to purchase health insurance in order to be covered on Jan. 1. The Affordable Care Act mandates that all Americans have coverage or be assessed a fee in the form of a tax penalty. However, millions of people saw their plans cancelled because they did not meet new standards laid out in the law. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius plans to use authorities in the law to issue a ‘hardship exemption’ from tax penalties to those who received cancellations and were not able to purchase new coverage.