I want to advise you to dive back into the red tape. This is a partially fixable problem but it involves many bureaucrats and a lot of hassle. It sounds like your former employer has a lot of responsibility here because you were supposed to be covered by COBRA and weren't. You can fight this and avoid that penalty.
However, this is a lot of work. And you have stated up front that your learning disability makes situations like this overwhelming. You can fight this whole mess but no one would blame you for deciding the fight isn't worth the amount of the penalty. So you should weigh that as the option and make a decision.
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