The Individual Mandate: Has the Obama Administration Silently Repealed the Rule that Virtually Everyone Must Have Health Insurance?

Obamacare’s critics continue to argue that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will self-destruct.  Now, some claim that the mandate that uninsured Americans must purchase coverage– or pay a stiff fine— is so riddled with new “loopholes and exemptions,” that it no longer exists.                                             14 New Waivers When the ACA passed Congress in 2010, it offered a handful of basic exemptions to the mandate that everyone must be insured. For example, if the only comprehensive coverage available would cost more than 8% of a household’s income, the fine would be waived. Individuals who were in jail, or belonged to a recognized religious group that objects to all insurance, including Medicare and Social Security, also would be excused.   But then, late in 2013, the administration quietly added some 14 new ways that uninsured Americans could dodge the fine. “This latest reconstruction” of the ACA received zero media coverage,” a Wall Street Journal editorial declared, “and the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) didn’t think the details were worth discussing in a conference call, press materials or fact sheet.” Yet if the new waivers went largely unnoticed, reform’s opponents claim that the swelling list of escape clauses will have a huge impact. By 2016, they say, almost 90% of the nation’s 30 million uninsured will be able to ignore the mandate that they buy insurance—without pa...
Source: Health Beat - Category: American Health Authors: Tags: Affordable Care Act exemptions fines mandate Obamacare penalties Uncategorized waivers bankrupt cannot afford catastrophic insurance divorce hardship exemptions Medicaid Source Type: blogs