[Alberta's Child]

There's no "better late than never" here at all. The issue only rears it's ugly head at tax filing time.

President Trump indirectly waived the individual mandate for 2016 by instructing the IRS to accept tax returns in 2017 even if they didn't include the mandatory forms for documenting health coverage. This was technically a breach of his constitutional duties because he had no authority to determine that he would not enforce a clear statute, but nobody made a big deal about it because the entire country had every reason to believe that ObamaCare would be repealed in early 2017 anyway.

The IRS has already announced that the 2016 "waiver" will not be allowed again in 2017, so now the White House has to figure out another way to effectively eliminate the individual mandate in a way that fully complies with the ObamaCare statute. These "hardship exemptions" sound perfectly legitimate, and very effective as well.

[Paulie]

Okay - I understand better now.

Thanks.