No, you do not need to enroll if you are covered by medicare or medicaid, or if you are covered by a policy offered through your employer or spouses employer. The idea is to reduce the number of uninsured people who were previously denied coverage, or didn't have affordable coverage available. That said, if you don't have it, then there are penalties in place that will affect those that chose to ignore the March 31st enrollment deadline. If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to hit the 'contact me' link. Thanks for asking!
The announced intention of Obamacare was to get everyone who was not already insured through an individual, group or government health program to enroll in health insurance coverage. Will you be jailed for not having health insurance? No. You will, however, be subject to a tax (as the Supreme Court defined it)/penalty (as the administration prefers to refer to it) for not having health insurance coverage that meets the requirements of the law.
In practical terms the tax penalty is minimal ($95 or 1% of modified adjusted gross income in the first year) and there are now a number of loosely defined "hardship" exemptions that a person can claim to avoid the penalty. Plus, the IRS can only withhold the tax penalty from an income tax refund, it cannot be charged as an additional tax per se and you can't have your bank account or wages garnisheed by the IRS to collect the tax penalty. This begs the question as to just how effective a mechanism the tax penalty will be in motivating people to purchase health insurance. Certainly, based upon the preliminary results of the recently closed open enrollment period it does not appear to have been a major factor in significantly reducing the number of uninsured Americans.
If you have further questions or require health insurance advice and assistance please click on the "contact me" button and I will be happy to help.
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In practical terms the tax penalty is minimal ($95 or 1% of modified adjusted gross income in the first year) and there are now a number of loosely defined "hardship" exemptions that a person can claim to avoid the penalty. Plus, the IRS can only withhold the tax penalty from an income tax refund, it cannot be charged as an additional tax per se and you can't have your bank account or wages garnisheed by the IRS to collect the tax penalty. This begs the question as to just how effective a mechanism the tax penalty will be in motivating people to purchase health insurance. Certainly, based upon the preliminary results of the recently closed open enrollment period it does not appear to have been a major factor in significantly reducing the number of uninsured Americans.
If you have further questions or require health insurance advice and assistance please click on the "contact me" button and I will be happy to help.