Obamacare - First In A Series...

OBAMACARE is here.

Well, it's actually been here for a few years, but it's biggest and most controversial provision kicked in on January 1, 2014. That's the mandate that everyone in this country (unless you meet one of the very few exceptions) must obtain health insurance or pay a penalty.

And guess who get's to enforce this new law. That's right - me!! Here's a picture of me with my new Obamacare badge.

 

 

From one of my favorite all-time movies, Support Your Local Sheriff:

Mayor Olly Perkins:
You interested in the job of sheriff?

Jason McCullough:
Oh, maybe. How much does it pay?

If you don't get health insurance, I get to enforce the law and calculate your penalty - which you will then pay with your tax return. Tax preparers all around the country are now the federal government's deputies. If you have an accountant prepare your tax return, he or she is going to ask you for IRS Form 1095-A Health Insurance Marketplace Statement; or for Form 1095-B Health Coverage; or Form 1095-C Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, which are filled out by health insurance companies in order to prove that you are covered by health insurance.

If you don't have health insurance, or if you don't fill out IRS Form 8965 Health Coverage Exemptions, you get to pay a penalty (a tax, a fine - call it what you will), and individuals like me will go into calculation mode in order to figure out how much it is. And just how is the penalty calculated you ask? Why that's easy!! The penalty is simply the greater of a percentage of your household income (and by the way, tax preparers are going to need to know the household income of every family member regardless of whether or not they prepare your tax return) - 1% for 2014; 2% for 2015; 2.5% for 2016 and later years, or a flat dollar amount (I'll spare you the lengthy schedule), capped each year by the national average premium for bronze level insurance plans, and it's calculated monthly and is 1/12th of the above amounts. But like the guy on T.V. says - "wait, there's more." By way of a tax credit that I get to calculate (I'll also spare you a discussion on that calculation), you can pay a lower penalty if your household income is between 100 - 400% of the federal poverty level and this tax credit depends on your income, age, and where you live. There's actually more to this - way more - but I won't bore you any further. I'm being facetious of course, but you get the idea. Obamacare is here and it's more complicated than they told you about at election time. More posts on this in the future.