Free Republic

March 31 is the deadline to enroll for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act. After that day, individuals without insurance could face a penalty. That penalty is $95 or 1% of your income, whichever is more. Even though the White House extended that deadline, the State of Connecticut is not. Monday remains the deadline but there are some exceptions that would allow you to enroll after then without penalty. "If you have some sort of a life status change: a divorce or death, loss of insurance coverage through an employer, those would be considered life status changes and you...

Matt Drudge’s widely discussed tweet that he has already paid Obamacare’s “liberty tax” highlights the uncertainties the self-employed face both from the health care law and the tax code in general. As pointed out by an editorial in Investor’s Business Daily, “self-employed entrepreneurs ranging from Drudge to small-shop proprietors and independent contractors have long been aware of the requirement to estimate their tax liability and send a quarter of it in every three months, and that this amount includes ‘other taxes’ such as the ObamaCare opt-out penalty.”

Though the Obama administration repeatedly insisted that its March 31 enrollment deadline for Obamacare’s first year was “firm,” many observers predicted that the administration would combat lagging sales of health law-sponsored insurance plans by extending that deadline. Sure enough, on Tuesday night the White House indicated that it would be postponing that drop date in order to squeeze as many people as possible into the program. Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post broke the story. Goldstein reports that the revised deadline “will apply to the federal exchanges operating in three dozen states” and extend for two to three weeks.

2014 is the first year most Americans will have to either have health insurance or face a tax penalty. But most people who are aware of the penalty think it's pretty small, at least for this first year. And that could turn into an expensive mistake. "I'd say the vast majority of people I've dealt with really believe that the penalty is only $95, if they know about it at all," says Brian Haile, senior vice president for health policy at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service. "And when people find out, they're stunned. It's much, much higher than they would expect."...

In an official document, the Internal Revenue Service, the enforcer of Obamacare’s mandates, is estimating that the cheapest Obamacare plan (the Bronze level of coverage) will cost a family of four $20,000 per year. Matt Cover of CNS News writes: The IRS's assumption that the cheapest plan for a family will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan. The examples point to families of four and families of five, both of...

(CNSNews.com) – In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year. Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS. The IRS's assumption that the cheapest plan for a family will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan. The examples...

GET INVOLVED Email:* Zip Code: *Required Privacy Policy Email Print Tuesday, February 25, 2014 6:20 PM EST John Kartch Related Items Grover Norquist discusses the Obamacare Cover Up Obamacare Exchanges Enroll Only 51,000 Uninsured Americans The Obamacare Signup Cover-up Daily Media Spotlight for August 15, 2013 Read More IRS Warns: Obamacare Tax Must Be Paid with Tax Return Agency employs Orwellian term “Shared Responsibility Payment” to describe Obamacare individual mandate tax. President Obama’s Internal Revenue Service today quietly released a series of Obamacare “Health Care Tax Tips” warning Americans that they must obtain “qualifying” health insurance – as defined by...

...a single taxpayer would have to have an income of about $190,400 before the penalty for a full year would overtake the lower end of the estimated average bronze premium range (again, based on an estimated 2016 filing threshold: (2.5% × [$190,400 − $10,400] = $4,500)). For a married couple, the corresponding household income would be $500,800 (2.5% × [$500,800 − $20,800] = $12,000).

WASHINGTON — Lots of conservative lawmakers hate Obamacare. Rep. Louie Gohmert is putting his money where his mouth is. The Tyler Republican gave up his health insurance for 2014, asserting that the president’s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act, has made coverage too expensive. “Other people are going to see what I did when I looked into health insurance for my wife and me: that the deductible rate, it doubled, about $3,000 to $6,000, and our policy was going to go from about $300 to about $1,500 a month,” he said during a recent radio interview with Trey...

Ever heard of a federal law 42 USC § 18115: Freedom Not to Participate in Federal Health Insurance Programs? I haven’t either.But thanks to FOTM reader Joseph, now we all do!This is how Cornell University Law School’s website describes 42 USC § 18115: No individual, company, business, nonprofit entity, or health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage shall be required to participate in any Federal health insurance program created under this Act(or any amendments made by this Act), or in any Federal health insurance program expanded by this Act (or any such amendments), and there shall be no penalty or fine imposed upon any such...

Starting Jan. 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin slashing 14 percent of their Home Health Care Prospective Payment Program budget, driving small home health-care providers out of business and potentially affecting millions of poor, elderly citizens in need of physical rehabilitation. The cuts — which are being made to fund Obamacare — will slash the homecare budget 3.5 percent every year for the next four. “By CMS’s own calculation, 40 percent or nearly 5,000 home health companies — mainly small businesses — will experience a “net loss” in revenue due to the cuts and go...

October 24, 2013 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: For those of us who take as long as we can to pay our taxes, October 15th was the extension filing date for 2012, and I dutifully was in there. My accountant, who is almost afraid to be my accountant because he thinks he's gonna get targeted, too, just 'cause his name's on my return, he said, "Look, you may not know this, but you keep talking about these Obamacare fines if you don't buy a policy. Do you know that under the law --" and I had to go look it up. Not...

Amid mounting criticism, the White House said Wednesday that it plans to soften the deadline for when Americans are required to purchase health insurance. The date by when Americans would be penalized for not having signed up for health insurance could be “slid” back by as much as six weeks, administration officials told NBC News. But it was not immediately clear Wednesday whether the adjustment to a cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act would need to be approved by Congress or could be done by the Department of Health and Human Services administratively. As the law stands now, individuals are...

It may seem like a clever idea to save yourself cash by not purchasing health insurance, but with Obamacare kicking in, you’ll have penalties to pay, which could cost you big bucks in the long run. Not only are you playing financial Russian roulette – you could be forking out tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars if you’re injured in an accident or become seriously ill – you’ll also have to pay a penalty to the federal government for flouting the law, costing you hundreds or thousands of dollars more. A wiser decision if you’re uninsured is...

The following is a screen shot of the comments section at Healthcare.gov and is circulating on the web. Among other startling facts, the user indicates that his fine for electing to 'opt out' of 0bamacare is $4,037.00 and would be attached to his tax return:

"I think success looks like at least 7 million people having signed up by the end of March 2014," Sebelius told NBC's Nancy Snyderman. But 7 million is only 16.9 percent of the 41.3 million Americans who, according to HHS, are currently uninsured and eligible to get coverage "It's a debate," Sebelius told NBC. "Do you want to have protection for basically every checkup, every visit, everything that you do -- or do you have a situation where you are making a determination where you and your family don't use medical services that much and you want to make sure...

In a speech at a Maryland community college last week promoting his namesake health reform law, President Obama mentioned the word "benefits" 10 times. Free preventive care, coverage for children up to age 26, a better drug plan for seniors. "We're giving more benefits and protections," he said. But there was one word Obama didn't mention once in his entire 51-minute talk. And that word was "mandate." That's despite the fact that a central feature of ObamaCare is the requirement that all those adoring young people buy insurance or pay a fine, and is the key to whatever chances of...

When it comes to ObamaCare, should you pay the premium for buying health insurance on your state's exchange, or would you be better off skipping it and paying the "penalty" tax instead? In two weeks time from this writing, you may find yourself having to answer that question, and the answer may not be what you think. In setting up the its system for mandating that all Americans have health insurance, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) actually creates some really perverse incentives that may make it more desirable for people to dump their health insurance coverage instead....

Employers will not face a penalty if they fail to inform their workers by October 1 about changes under President Barack Obama's healthcare law, the administration said, in what will likely come as a relief to many small businesses. The federal government is requiring businesses to notify employees about the new health insurance marketplaces created by the law that are set to start enrolling millions of Americans beginning October 1. Employers are also required to inform employees that they may be able to get lower-cost insurance on the exchanges, but if they buy insurance on the exchange, they may lose...

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.