6 Million Will Pay Health Law Penalty
Sept 20, 2012 20:48:30 GMT -5
Post by PrisonerOfHope on Sept 20, 2012 20:48:30 GMT -5
Six million will pay health law penalty: study
Congressional Budget Office says more to be taxed than expected
September 19, 2012|Russ Britt, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Six million Americans, or roughly 2% of the current population, will end up paying a penalty for failing to have health insurance when the full effect of the 2010 health-care overhaul law is felt in 2016, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO on Wednesday said the penalty of $695 or 2.5% of household income under the law formally known as the Affordable Care Act increases the number of those facing the penalty than originally was projected in April 2010, shortly after the law’s passage. The law contains an individual mandate requiring all Americans to have insurance or pay a penalty.
Now, 2 million more people will be penalized and pay an additional $3 billion in fines than originally projected, according to the report, conducted by the CBO along with the Joint Committee on Taxation.
“Most of the increase — about 85% — in the number of people who are expected to pay the penalty tax stems from changes in CBO and JCT’s baseline projections since April 2010, including the effects of legislation enacted since that time, changes in the economic outlook (primarily a higher unemployment rate and lower wages and salaries), and other technical updates,” the report says.
The CBO goes on to say that roughly 15% of the increase is expected because of the recent Supreme Court decision that upholds the law but tells states they won’t be required to beef up their Medicaid programs.
After the CBO finding, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement, saying: “This report confirms that more than 98% of Americans won’t be affected by this penalty. And this update doesn’t change the basic fact that the individual responsibility policy will only affect people who can afford health care but choose not to buy it.”
Meanwhile, opponents of the law, which they call “Obamacare,” issued their own statement. Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the senate’s minority leader, said the Obama administration’s promise that the law wouldn’t end up in a tax hike now is being broken.
“And now the non-partisan CBO makes clear that the tax will hit 6 million Americans — mainly middle-class individuals and families,” McConnell said in a statement. “This is just one more reason among many for why ‘Obamacare’ must be repealed.”
While the number of those facing the penalty has risen, the slice of the population facing the tax is roughly one-fifth the 30 million non-elderly U.S. residents that will remain uninsured.
Illegal immigrants and those exempted from the penalty due to low incomes will comprise 18 million to 19 million of that total group of uninsured. About half the remaining 11 million to 12 million are expected to receive exemptions due to hardship or religious beliefs, the CBO says.
The tax will raise roughly $7 billion for 2016 and average $8 billion a year for the following six years.
articles.marketwatch.com/2012-09-19/economy/33945881_1_individual-mandate-penalty-tax-health-care-overhaul-law
Congressional Budget Office says more to be taxed than expected
September 19, 2012|Russ Britt, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Six million Americans, or roughly 2% of the current population, will end up paying a penalty for failing to have health insurance when the full effect of the 2010 health-care overhaul law is felt in 2016, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO on Wednesday said the penalty of $695 or 2.5% of household income under the law formally known as the Affordable Care Act increases the number of those facing the penalty than originally was projected in April 2010, shortly after the law’s passage. The law contains an individual mandate requiring all Americans to have insurance or pay a penalty.
Now, 2 million more people will be penalized and pay an additional $3 billion in fines than originally projected, according to the report, conducted by the CBO along with the Joint Committee on Taxation.
“Most of the increase — about 85% — in the number of people who are expected to pay the penalty tax stems from changes in CBO and JCT’s baseline projections since April 2010, including the effects of legislation enacted since that time, changes in the economic outlook (primarily a higher unemployment rate and lower wages and salaries), and other technical updates,” the report says.
The CBO goes on to say that roughly 15% of the increase is expected because of the recent Supreme Court decision that upholds the law but tells states they won’t be required to beef up their Medicaid programs.
After the CBO finding, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement, saying: “This report confirms that more than 98% of Americans won’t be affected by this penalty. And this update doesn’t change the basic fact that the individual responsibility policy will only affect people who can afford health care but choose not to buy it.”
Meanwhile, opponents of the law, which they call “Obamacare,” issued their own statement. Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the senate’s minority leader, said the Obama administration’s promise that the law wouldn’t end up in a tax hike now is being broken.
“And now the non-partisan CBO makes clear that the tax will hit 6 million Americans — mainly middle-class individuals and families,” McConnell said in a statement. “This is just one more reason among many for why ‘Obamacare’ must be repealed.”
While the number of those facing the penalty has risen, the slice of the population facing the tax is roughly one-fifth the 30 million non-elderly U.S. residents that will remain uninsured.
Illegal immigrants and those exempted from the penalty due to low incomes will comprise 18 million to 19 million of that total group of uninsured. About half the remaining 11 million to 12 million are expected to receive exemptions due to hardship or religious beliefs, the CBO says.
The tax will raise roughly $7 billion for 2016 and average $8 billion a year for the following six years.
articles.marketwatch.com/2012-09-19/economy/33945881_1_individual-mandate-penalty-tax-health-care-overhaul-law
