Free Republic

Approximately 6.5 million taxpayers paid $3 billion in Obamacare penalties for not having health insurance in 2016, according to preliminary data from the Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen. Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate required that Americans purchase health care coverage or pay a penalty to the Internal Revenue Service. While the number of taxpayers paying the penalty has declined since 2014, the total amount in penalties paid to the IRS has increased since then. In 2014, individuals without insurance had to pay the greater penalty of either a flat fee of $95 or 1 percent...

When Maryland business owner Thomas Kunkel first learned about the Affordable Care Act, he was excited about the prospect of the new health care law. “From the small business standpoint, it was actually one of the first times I felt like a bit of a social program might actually benefit a small business,” he told The Daily Signal. “Usually it’s the opposite.” Kunkel owns Full House Marketing and Print in Edgewood, Maryland, and employs 21 full-time workers and up to 10 part-time employees. While he doesn’t provide them with health insurance, Kunkel cuts his workers a monthly check through a...

Now that ObamaCare is failing in the exact way its critics predicted more than 5 years ago, the White House is preparing to use threats to increase ObamaCare enrollment numbers next year. The threat, of course, is the ObamaCare tax. Next year the annual fine for not buying President Obama’s overpriced health insurance will jump to $695 or 2.5% of your income, whichever is greater. The White House intends to use the hefty fines as leverage in the upcoming 2016 enrollment period, which starts in November: Administration officials are looking for a balance. “We need to be make sure that...

The bill is coming due for ObamaCare and it’s a whopper. According to Medicare Care’s own actuaries U.S. health care spending is about to rocket. Federal meddling in what was once the finest and cost-effective health care system on the planet is nothing new. Back in the 1960s, many Americans paid for doctor and hospital services out of pocket or through modestly priced private insurance. Health care spending was about 6 percent of GDP. Enter President Johnson and Medicare. He bought millions of votes by giving seniors free health care that they never paid for through payroll taxes during their...

The Obama administration Friday spelled out civil fines of up to $250,000 for knowingly and willfully providing false information to get taxpayer-subsidized coverage under the new health care law. New regulations say the fines also apply for lying to escape the law's requirement that most Americans carry health insurance.

Charitable hospitals that treat uninsured children will now be fined and receive harsher scrutiny when applying for non-profit, tax-exempt status. The Internal Revenue Service’s Section 501 goes into effect under Obamacare. The provision stipulates new financial penalties for charitable, tax-exempt hospitals that treat uninsured poor Americans. Currently, 60 percent of American hospitals fall under this category. Analysts explained that charity serves as a major deterrent for the uninsured to enroll in Obamacare, so the Obama administration is fining charitable hospitals. “Failure to comply, or to prove this continuing need, could result in the loss of the hospital’s tax-exempt status. The...

Small business owners who thought they were off the hook for ObamaCare regulations until 2015 may be in for an expensive wake-up call next month. Beginning Oct. 1, any business with at least one employee and $500,000 in annual revenue must notify all employees by letter about the Affordable Care Act’s health-care exchanges, or face up to a $100-per-day fine. The requirement applies to any business regulated under the Fair Labor Standards Act, regardless of size. Going forward, letters are to be distributed to any new hires within 14 days of their starting date, according to the Department of Labor.

The delay in implementation of ObamaCare's employer fines won't keep them from growing between now and when they finally hit in 2015. Each year, the fines will grow in line with the growth in average per-person health insurance premiums relative to 2013. Here's the problem: Average wages generally grow slower than health premiums, and the wages of low-income workers lag average wage growth. That means the penalties will gradually loom larger and larger relative to wages for modest-skilled workers, giving employers a bigger incentive to cut them to part-time. Even if health premiums grow at an average 3.5% annual rate...