That is about six weeks earlier than a March 31 deadline often cited previously.

The explanation: Health insurance coverage typically starts on the first day of a given month, and it takes up to 15 days to process applications.

You still have to be covered by March 31 to avoid the new penalties for remaining uninsured. But to successfully accomplish that you have to send in your application by the middle of February. Coverage would then start Mar. 1.

The Jackson Hewitt tax preparation company first pointed out the wrinkle with the health care law’s least popular requirement.