Posted on 12/24/2015 4:50:43 AM PST by Libloather
People who don't buy health insurance next year will face a penalty of at least $695, a price that is being linked to a jump in ObamaCare sign-ups, particularly among people under 35 years old.
The administration said Tuesday that 8.2 million people have signed up so far, compared to 6.4 million at this point last year.
That includes 2.1 million people under age 35 - nearly double the number of young people enrolled during the same period last year.
Administration officials touting the numbers have pounded home the message that ObamaCare coverage is affordable in explaining the rush of people joining the exchanges.
Over and over, officials tout that more than 7 in 10 people can find a plan for $75 a month or less, with a government subsidy.
Those who didn’t buy health insurance last year faced just a $325 fine or 2 percent of their income, which ever was greater.
This year the fine is $695 or 2.5 percent of their income. (There are some exemptions for people who cannot afford coverage).
"Year 1 and 2 we got a lot of 'I'm just going to pay the penalty,' " said Daniel Bouton, a "navigator" with the Community Council of Greater Dallas who helps people sign up. "Now they are saying that it is $695."
According to the IRS, 7.5 million people chose to pay the penalty last year, higher than the administration’s projections. That number could now fall.
"There is an effect, absolutely," Bouton added. "It is different than past years."
How much of an effect the penalty is having is still unclear.
"I'll be frank with you, we don't have data on this, but I can just tell you based on being in many states so far, I think it is playing a role, it comes up," Kevin Counihan, the administration’s CEO in charge of the ObamaCare marketplaces, said on a call with reporters last week.
Obama administration officials don’t put the penalty at the center of their messaging.
Officials such as Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell often don't mention it while doing local TV interviews urging sign-ups, instead touting information about financial assistance that officials say is needed to counter the impression that insurance is unaffordable.
"I don't think we hit it hard," Counihan said of the penalty. "But we clearly do want to communicate that the penalty has gone up and I think that's part of the role we have to do."
Shelli Quenga, director of programs at the Palmetto Project, a non-profit that helps people sign-up in South Carolina, said that a combination of messages can lead people to sign up.
She said people come in the door having heard about the penalty, but they still need to be convinced that coverage is affordable. "There's definitely more talk of the penalty this year than there has been in prior years," she said. "It lets us begin the conversation."
Jenny Sullivan, director of the Best Practices Institute at Enroll America, the leading outside group driving sign-up efforts, says that the primary message is getting out the basic fact that financial assistance is available, but the penalty "certainly is something we're making sure we're sharing with customers."
Enroll America is testing its messages about the penalty to see if it is most effective to simply say there is a fine, to say it is at least $695, or to personalize the information to calculate the exact amount someone has to pay.
One web ad for healthcare.gov reads: "Avoid the tax penalty of $695 or more. Enroll now."
Sullivan also said there is some worry that people might not know enough about the fine.
The group's polling shows that most people are generally aware that there is a penalty, but they don’t necessarily know how big it is.
Eighty-five percent underestimated the fine they would have to pay, Sullivan said.
The fine remains one of the least popular parts of ObamaCare. A December 2014 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 64 percent view it unfavorably.
Counihan, the Marketplace CEO, says the administration emphasizes that it would much rather sign people up than fine them.
"That's when we tell them about the death panels..."
The DNC, GOP, and Moslems remain EXEMPT.
I’m 61. Two years ago my Obamacare policy would have cost a mere $8,000 (/s). It didn’t cover drugs at all, just hospitalization and some doctors visits and diagnostics. But to use any of it I had to first spend $10,000 out of pocket. So, for $18,000 I essentially had a catastrophic care policy. If I got injured in October and hadn’t yet spent my deductible then the new year would start the deductible all over. I decided to go without coverage.
(Incidentally, the catastrophic care policy I’d have normally carried is now illegal.)
The Third Reich had something similar.
$75 per month is $900 per year. If people are signing up for insurance plans that cost $900/year in order to avoid an IRS penalty of $695, then Americans have to be the dumbest people on the planet.
Exactly. If you could afford to pay $18,000 per year for medical coverage, you’d be better off putting it in the bank and paying the $695 penalty. Do this for several years, and even the minimal interest you earn on the money you’ve saved would cover the whole penalty.
The penalty is $695, that is less than one month’s premium, in many cases. Why would a young and healthy person pay such a premium, every month, when even if they used it a little bit, they would never reach the deductible within a year, only to start over towards a new deductible in the next calendar year.
How many will still be signed up after they make their first payment and then drop out...?
“better off putting it in the bank and paying the $695 penalty...”
Except it’s not a $695 penalty.
It’s the GREATER of $695 or 2% of YOUR income.
Married?
Now it’s the GREATER of $1,390 or 4% of your combined income.
Next year it goes to 2.5%.
If you earn $60,000 your ‘penalty’ will be $2,400.
A whole lottta money for bupkis.
We paid last year and now are exempt via our membership in Christian Healthcare Ministries.
$500 deductible, $300 per month. Good folks. They have plans that start at $45 per month with a $5,000 deductible.
Beats paying money to the government for nothing.
If you know any dumbass low information Dumbo voters who are not enrolled, rat them out. Identify them by name and address and more if you have it, slip it in with your next tax returns. Go the extra mile and make calls to the IRS toll-free numbers.
Don't let them off the hook. There must be consequences for destroying America, and making a phone call sure is a real small effort in the generational length battle that lies ahead.
Bonus to those who challenge Dumbo sycophants directly at all the family gatherings, and parties, and trips to the bar or whatever. Ask them if they paid their $700 fine yet or if they actually bought in to some overpriced crony health insurance policy just as their muslim-in-chief demands of them.
Asymmetrical Warfare.
The South Carolina advertisement says "Avoid the tax penalty of $695 or more. Enroll now." So now it's "Two mints in one" -- BOTH a tax AND a penalty. Wasn't the entire SCOTUS debate on whether it is a tax OR a penalty? How can it now morph into both?
Like any other numbers out of this Administration, I don’t believe them.
“The beatings will continue until moral improves “.........
Since when is it the government’s business to get people insured? I guess since they’re not protecting us as required by the Constitution, they’ve decided to move on to something else.
They knew therefore they are guilty and I hope we use our tax money to prosecute these parasites, MONEY WELL SPENT!
Where are our esteemed economists on this? Do they not realize that these under 35 people who are now signing up for insurance because of the government penalty are going to have significantly LESS disposable income in 2016?
These people may now be paying $400 PER MONTH in premiums, or close to $5,000/year! And most of them are never going to use that insurance and may as well throw that money down a rat hole. That money would otherwise stimulate the economy, by being spent on food, cars, clothing, electronics, etc., etc.
As long as the southern border is open and we are actively recruiting “replacement Americans” south of it, I absolutely believe ObamaCare enrollemnts are going up. They may be subsidized plans, and the enrollees may not be Americans, but I don’t doubt that many people are signing up for another benefit paid for by America’s dwindling pool of taxpayers. As areas with large welfarian populations run out of money, this is just another federal program (like Section 8 or the school lunch program) to force taxpayers all over the country to foot the bills of the welfare reservations.
I know a LOT of people who got the exemption for tax time. Who are these people trying to fool?
If only people knew that if they don’t structure their tax filings to have refunds the IRS cannot use any means to collect the penalties for Obamacare!
Don’t have to pay fine if you do not have a tax refund. Do your w 4 right and forget about it.
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