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Health Law Tax Penalty? I’ll Take It, Millions Say
New York Times ^ | OCT. 26, 2016 | ROBERT PEAR

Posted on 10/26/2016 9:11:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway

The architects of the Affordable Care Act thought they had a blunt instrument to force people — even young and healthy ones — to buy insurance through the law’s online marketplaces: a tax penalty for those who remain uninsured.

It has not worked all that well, and that is at least partly to blame for soaring premiums next year on some of the health law’s insurance exchanges.

The full weight of the penalty will not be felt until April, when those who have avoided buying insurance will face penalties of around $700 a person or more. But even then that might not be enough: For the young and healthy who are badly needed to make the exchanges work, it is sometimes cheaper to pay the Internal Revenue Service than an insurance company charging large premiums, with huge deductibles.

“In my experience, the penalty has not been large enough to motivate people to sign up for insurance,” said Christine Speidel, a tax lawyer at Vermont Legal Aid.

Some people do sign up, especially those with low incomes who receive the most generous subsidies, Ms. Speidel said. But others, she said, find that they cannot afford insurance, even with subsidies, so “they grudgingly take the penalty.”

The I.R.S. says that 8.1 million returns included penalty payments for people who went without insurance in 2014, the first year in which most people were required to have coverage. A preliminary report on the latest tax-filing season, tabulating data through April, said that 5.6 million returns included penalties averaging $442 a return for people uninsured in 2015.

With the health law’s fourth open-enrollment season beginning Tuesday, consumers are anxiously weighing their options.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: healthcare; obamacare; penalties; taxes
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To: nickcarraway

bump


41 posted on 10/26/2016 10:23:29 PM PDT by gattaca (Republicans believe every day is July 4, democrats believe every day is April 15. Ronald Reagan)
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To: cba123
We should really not criticize dems on this issue.

-snip-

But on medical care, the GOP has been completely absent.

-snip-

This is one subject the GOP should shut up about.

-snip-

GOP needs to say how they would improve things. Not simply criticize Obamacare.

-snip-

How would we do it better?

_________________________________________________________________

How about those of us who despise the gop. Can we criticize Obamacare?

42 posted on 10/26/2016 10:24:20 PM PDT by Ken H (Best election ever!)
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To: arthurus

You must be referring to Cigna. I took that one because of the out of country provision. I spend time in Viet Nam and that 50 thou goes a long way there and I do have access to high quality medicine at the French hospital in Nha Trang which is world class.


43 posted on 10/26/2016 10:28:30 PM PDT by ThanhPhero
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To: crusher2013
In a totally free market system the number of people who simply cannot afford it would be very much smaller as the costs would be much lower. The population that can't afford it would be small enough that it would be taken care of by actual charity which is not a curse word.
44 posted on 10/26/2016 10:33:20 PM PDT by arthurus (Hillary's campaign is getting shaky)
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To: cba123
Yes, but that comes after Hillary is defeated. The point needs to be driven home that Hillary and the dems own Obamacare.

With less than 2 weeks before the election, I don't give a F who criticizes them for it. Just like I don't give a F who yells 'Bill Clinton is a rapist' at media events and public settings - just as long as it gets done.

45 posted on 10/26/2016 10:40:04 PM PDT by Ken H (Best election ever!)
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To: arthurus

People can (and should) defer the “penalties” by adjusting down withholdings and if anything owing the fed a little something. But that will only work until they change the law. Which of course they’re going to do.

What a catastrophe. Every bit as bad as we all knew it would be, exactly as our side predicted. Same outcome extends to all such policy debates in due course, a time-proved truism the media works tirelessly, scrupulously, to obscure from the masses.


46 posted on 10/26/2016 10:49:27 PM PDT by fire and forget
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To: cba123

>> But on medical care, the GOP has been completely absent.

>> Nowhere. At all.

>> Come up with a better idea. Until you do, just do not say a single word.

Spare us your ignorant indignation.

For decades, litigation reform, HSAs, and inter-state competition have been ongoing battles against the commie Democrats.


47 posted on 10/26/2016 11:03:36 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: nickcarraway

any wikileaks on roberts yet? lest we forget, pelosi knew how he was going to vote.


48 posted on 10/26/2016 11:32:14 PM PDT by dadfly
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To: cba123
Our national government has no legitimate, constitutional business in running the healthcare market in the first place.
49 posted on 10/27/2016 1:08:43 AM PDT by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
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To: sauropod

.


50 posted on 10/27/2016 1:34:09 AM PDT by sauropod (Beware the fury of a patient man. I've lost my patience!)
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To: Fai Mao; All

You can avoid the tax by joining one of the Christian health sharing Ministries.


51 posted on 10/27/2016 1:53:57 AM PDT by RKBA Democrat (The left has the "Vagina Monologues" and calls it art. But we on the right can't say "pussy?")
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To: Ken H

I’m not a member of the gop. I don’t much care what Paul Ryan and his brand of establishment cronies have to say.


52 posted on 10/27/2016 2:02:16 AM PDT by RKBA Democrat (The left has the "Vagina Monologues" and calls it art. But we on the right can't say "pussy?")
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To: cba123

Why does the government have to be involved in our healthcare at all?


53 posted on 10/27/2016 2:09:17 AM PDT by uncitizen (Drain.The.Swamp!)
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To: arthurus
Most of the cost of modern “healthcare” is salaries of bureaucrats and the costs of the incredibly extensive record keeping required and the regulation of everything involved by the Government.

Don't be absurd. One record keeper at an office takes care of hundreds if not thousands of patients records. Spreading their salary over those numbers doesn't have the effect you claim.

The real reason for high care costs is that insurance companies exist. They negotiate the price and simply pass on the cost.

I received a $24K bill for a 45 minute procedure on a kidney stone. That is not what was paid int the end. But, who in their right mind can justify that kind of money for that time?

54 posted on 10/27/2016 2:31:26 AM PDT by raybbr (That progressive bumper sticker on your car might just as well say, "Yes, I'm THAT stupid!")
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To: uncitizen

The gov’t has NO business being involved at all. It is not about healthcare. It is about POWER and CONTROL over the lives of their “subjects”. IOW, tyranny.


55 posted on 10/27/2016 2:31:27 AM PDT by Right-wing Librarian (Establishment on Trump: "He's the Grinch Who'll Stop our Looting!")
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To: Right-wing Librarian

yet we have trolls here saying Republicans cant complain about obamacare because they offered no alternative ...ugh


56 posted on 10/27/2016 2:34:19 AM PDT by uncitizen (Drain.The.Swamp!)
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To: uncitizen

Indeed. They are so far from reality it makes one wonder where to begin in response, and if it is a productive use of time to even try. The ignorance of the populace enables the advancement of tyranny.


57 posted on 10/27/2016 2:43:18 AM PDT by Right-wing Librarian (Establishment on Trump: "He's the Grinch Who'll Stop our Looting!")
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To: nickcarraway

Further down in the article, they mention over 12M people received a hardship waiver and didn’t have to pay a penalty. With these whopping premium increases, more people will be able to take the 8% hardship waiver.


58 posted on 10/27/2016 3:00:46 AM PDT by EVO X
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To: raybbr
That is not what was paid int the end. But, who in their right mind can justify that kind of money for that time?

Had some physical therapy on a shoulder earlier this year. The list price was $600 per hour, the negotiated price was $320 per hour. My copay was $60 per hour. I figure my copay covered the salary of the therapist and the rest went for overhead and profit at the therapy center and insurance company.

59 posted on 10/27/2016 3:12:57 AM PDT by EVO X
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To: cba123

> GOP needs to say how they would improve things. Not simply criticize Obamacare.

I totally agree.
It’s been 7 years.
We knew this was coming.
Show us the “replacement” we’ve been hearing about or shut up and fix what we have.


60 posted on 10/27/2016 3:13:29 AM PDT by LostPassword
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