Analysts: 6M to be penalized under new health law

(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - Congressional budget analysts are now estimating that nearly 6 million Americans — most of them in the middle class — will have to pay a tax penalty for not getting health insurance once President Barack Obama's health care law is fully in place.

That's 2 million more than a previous estimate found, or a 50 percent increase. The average penalty will be nearly $1,200.

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 after finding that the penalty fell within the power of Congress to impose taxes.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday the penalty will raise $6.9 billion when fully in effect in 2016.

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The Wall Street Journal reports the analysts estimate that roughly 15 percent "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. 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."

[aerosmithlisa]

WELL I JUST DO NOT SEE IT BECAUSE middle class PEOPLE HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE ,, why would they not have it to be middle class you earn at least 200.000 a year , and most of them get it from employers if you can not afford health care making 200,000 a year then how the hell do you expect people making minimum wage to ?// dang people that are middle class are rich compared to 50 percent of the country

[mark_p93561]

No I won't be charged, these are lies. You can't force people to bow down to your faith and belief systems of sickness, fear, disease and death or charge them money and imprison them if they don't, just because they believe in a Higher more powerful and Loving Eternal, Omnipotent, Omnipressent God that has All power over All of your false gods, blasphemies and idolatries you worship, Obama. God will stop you! Jesus the living Christ, God and The Holy Spirit power of God, which cannot be removed, is in and around us in the light, sun, air, water, sun, solar flare and substance, is our physician and you cannot force us to bow down to your idolatry, blasphemies and false gods Obama-nation king of babylon, your fire will not burn us as tried in Daniel 3, but your own fire shall be on yourself with the fire of Our God, The Righteous and pure Man's collective conscience against mortality, disease, greed, exploitation of wages, homosexuals, murderers, wars and death. The righteous and pure has removed the daily sacrifice and Obama has set up the Obamanation of dessolation. Ezekiel 20:29
Then I said to them, 'What is this high place to which you go?' So its name is called Bamah to this day." Daniel 12:11 "And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.

[infantryman1968]

by GoGoUsa September 20, 2012 2:23 AM EDT

6m? Why that is pretty much the entire ratings number for FOX. Do you think there is any connection?


LOL!


Fox Ratings are higher than CBS,ABC,MSNBC,NBC,CNN and NPR combined.

How is the weather in Tehran?

[marychgo]

Can we be sane here, please? As we all learned from the "47%" story, there are about 160 million "households" in the U.S. Six million is 3.75% of 160 million. And EVERY ONE of those six million households could AVOID paying this tax if they just bought insurance!

[jayc9]

Yea, 6 million they estimate? You gotta be kidding, it is more like 30 million and just wait until businesses have to pay the insurance premium, many more jobs lost. The worst is yet to come.......

[Lerianis4]

by Tirawley September 19, 2012 6:57 PM EDT
HA HA HA, you believe that garbage? YOUR bill going down? NO.
______________

Actually, for me, the answer was yes. My health insurance (platinum plan) went from 450 dollars a month to 390 dollars a month.

That is the mean for my relatives as well. Now, some of the high deductible plans still have too high of prices, but this is a work in progress.

[GoGoUsa]

6m? Why that is pretty much the entire ratings number for FOX. Do you think there is any connection?

[cubscout09]

Did anyone try reading the CBO Report?

"The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have estimated that about 30 million nonelderly residents will be uninsured in 2016, but the majority of them will not be subject to the penalty tax. Unauthorized immigrants, for example, who are prohibited from receiving almost all Medicaid benefits and all subsidies through the insurance exchanges, are exempted from the mandate to obtain health insurance. Others will be subject to the mandate but exempted from the penalty tax—for example, because they will have income low enough that they are not required to file an income tax return, because they are members of Indian tribes, or because the premium they would have to pay would exceed a specified share of their income (initially 8 percent in 2014 and indexed over time). CBO and JCT estimate that between 18 million and 19 million uninsured people in 2016 will qualify for one or more of those exemptions. Of the remaining 11 million to 12 million uninsured people, some individuals will be granted exemptions from the penalty because of hardship, and others will be exempted from the requirement on the basis of their religious beliefs."

"CBO and JCT have also updated their estimates of the distribution of those penalty tax payments by income category. Table 1 shows how much of those payments are projected to be made by or on behalf of people who are uninsured in 2016 (which the IRS will collect in 2017) in each of several income categories, measured as percentages of the federal poverty level (FPL). In general, households with lower income will be subject to the flat dollar penalty (with adjustments to account for the lower penalty for children and an overall cap on family payments), and households with higher income will owe a percentage of their income. In 2016, households with income that exceeds 400 percent of the FPL are estimated to constitute about one-third of people paying penalties and to account for about two-thirds of the receipts from those penalties."

http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43628

[askagain]

Mortarman

Farmers and oil companies are subsidy moochers.

No one should get any money from the government unless they provided a good or service

--------------------------------

Mort. It is much more than "Farmers and oil companies are subsidy moochers." It is the artificial manipulation of the markets by our government. Why does the government pay farmers not to grow certain crops or give surplus crops to foreign countries or simply destroy surplus crops? This is done to keep prices high. This is true of oil as well. Farmers are still at the mercy of the weather, high fertilizer prices, and insect damage.

[Lerianis4]

Simple: To keep prices for grain and other things from bouncing up and down like a super-bounce ball being slammed into the ground by Hercules.

That is a good reason for those people being paid 'not to grow' certain items.

[Bubba1212]

@lerianis4
we could give the surplus as foregin aid in leiu of money ever thought about that.

[novotesobozo]

What go to happen when people lose their empolyee healthcare because it's cheeper for the empolyer to pay the fine

[askagain]

Haven't you heard that people will be required to purchase their own health insurance if their employers drop their group health insurance plans. That is what will happen to people. If you are poor and qualify, the government already provides free health insurance. Free, meaning other people are paying for the poor to have health insurance.

[GoGoUsa]

Even though my employer provides my insurance I still pay for it, everyone who has insurance provided through their employers pay for it. We get a better rate for the group plan because that is the way the old systems work, but that money my employer spends on their so-called tax deductible contribution is money that would otherwise be paid to me. Why are the people on the Right so friggin bad at math?