Americans in higher tax brackets could find themselves paying a penalty almost $2,500 for being uninsured.
The IRS has released an insurance news statement that indicated that the penalty that will be paid by individuals who have failed to comply with the individual mandate of the heath care reform and who have not purchased coverage will be up to $2,448.
At the same time, there could be a fine of up to $12,240 for uninsured families with five or more members.
The same penalty will not apply to everyone. It was made clear in this insurance news that the maximum amount would be applied to individuals who do not have health plans and who have an income of $244,800 or more. Families with five members or more would pay a maximum penalty only if their combined annual income was greater than $1.2 million.
In this way, this insurance news will be toughest for the wealthiest uninsured people in the country.
A representative of the Treasury Department explained that “The only people who could potentially be impacted by this guidance are the nation’s highest earners — those who make more than about a quarter of a million dollars a year but choose to go without health insurance.” That said, it was also added that “Only a small number of the highest earners would pay this maximum fee.”
The individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) specifically states that Americans must either obtain a health insurance policy or they will face the risk of having to pay a tax penalty from the IRS. This health plan must also meet the minimum standards of the ACA in order to ensure that a fine of 1 percent of annual household income is not applied, for people making $19,650 or more, per year. For people making less than that amount, the penalty of $95 per year. People making under $10,150 per year will not be fined.
The IRS released insurance news information regarding the Bronze level health plans on the exchanges in order to calculate how much people could be fined. Those policies are the ones with the lowest premiums but that are also associated with the highest out of pocket costs while still complying with the ACA standards.
