Obamacare Penalty Will Hit Six Million Americans

In his first run for President, Obama pledged he would not raise taxes on people making less than 200 thousand dollars a year. As it turns out, 80 percent of Americans who will face a “penalty” for Obamacare, are making up to or less than five times the federal poverty level.

According to a Congressional Budge analysis just released, once Obamacare is fully effective, almost 6 million people in America will face a tax penalty for not carrying medical coverage. Seems to me, this is yet another broken promise by the Obama Administration.

Starting in 2014, the new health care law requires virtually every legal resident of the U.S. to carry health insurance or face a tax penalty. The Supreme Court upheld Obama’s law as constitutional in a 5-4 decision this summer, finding that the insurance mandate and the tax penalty enforcing it fall within the power of Congress to impose taxes. The penalty will be collected by the IRS, just like taxes.
The budget office said the penalty will raise $6.9 billion when fully in effect in 2016.
The new law will also provide government aid to help middle-class and low-income households afford coverage, the financial carrot that balances out the penalty.

Nonetheless, some people might still decide to remain uninsured because they object to government mandates or because they feel they would come out ahead financially even if they have to pay the penalty. Health insurance is expensive, with employer-provided family coverage averaging nearly $15,800 a year for a family and $4,300 for a single plan.

The Supreme Court allowed individual states to opt out of a major Medicaid expansion under the law. The Obama administration says it will exempt low-income people affected by state decisions from having to comply with the insurance mandate.

Read More at: Fox News

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/19/tax-penalty-to-hit-nearly-6m-uninsured-people/?cmpid=NL_morningHL