Requires all American citizens and legal residents to purchase qualified health insurance coverage. Exceptions are provided for religious objectors, individuals not lawfully present and incarcerated, those who cannot afford coverage, taxpayers with income under 100 percent of poverty, members of Indian tribes, those who have received a hardship waiver, those with incomes below the federal income tax filing threshold and those who were not covered for a period of less than three months during the year. The penalty structure for noncompliance will be an excise tax of either a flat dollar amount per person or a percentage of the individual’s income, whichever is higher. In 2014 the percentage of income determining the fine amount will be 1%, then 2% in 2015, with the maximum fine of 2.5% of taxable (gross) household income capped at the average bronze-level insurance premium (60% actuarial) rate for the person’s family beginning in 2016. The alternative will be a fixed dollar amount that phases in beginning with $325 per person in 2015 to $695 in 2016.
Source: NAHU