Free Republic

With less than two weeks of open enrollment left, Covered California is reminding consumers that they will face increased penalties for not having health insurance this year. Since Obamacare's individual coverage requirement took effect in 2014, the federal government has imposed increasingly expensive fines to people who do not purchase coverage through health exchanges or obtain insurance through an employer or a government program such as Medicare. This year brings the highest penalty yet, Peter Lee, Covered California's executive director, said during a recent news conference. "This is real money going straight to the IRS, where the consumer gets nothing...

... A recent analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that more than seven million people who are eligible for exchange coverage would pay less in penalties than for the least expensive insurance available to them. More than half would not qualify for subsidies, the analysis found. Ben Wakana, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said people would still be better off buying insurance. "We understand some people may be thinking through their choice of coverage, but going without health insurance is a serious gamble that can be catastrophic if wrong," Mr. Wakana said. Many holdouts...

Every time I post that the IRS is clearly forbidden from punishing you for not paying the fine/tax, I get the same fictional responses. Maybe their goal is to make it sound so scary so that Obamacare gets magically repealed(poof) , but given that wont happen anytime soon this misinformation can have the unintended consequence of fooling/scaring people into complying and helping make Obamacare work. I found the section in the bill text and will posted it below as a vanity for future reference skip tp SPECIAL RULES. CHAPTER 48—MAINTENANCE OF MINIMUM ESSENTIAL COVERAGE ‘Sec. 5000A. Requirement to maintain minimum...