There are over 300 million people in the United States, and roughly 135 million of them will file tax returns this year. One third of the tax filers, around 45 million, will owe no taxes. Of those that pay no taxes, over half of them will receive monies from the government.
All these figures boil down to this… about 110 million people will get a refund come tax time. https://higginscompanies.com/health-insurance/student-health-insurance/
Here’s the big problem. The new health insurance mandate states that all 300 million plus Americans must have health insurance. Starting in 2014, if you don’t have medical insurance the IRS will withhold your refund, or deduct the penalty amount before sending the refund to you.
For two thirds of the population this means nothing, and for those that are affected it will still be less expensive to cancel their health insurance until they need it. There is no risk of being denied coverage come 2014 so why spend the money. A fine of a few hundred dollars is a much better deal than paying several thousand for an Arizona health insurance policy.
No matter how we slice it, the American public must demand that the penalty for not carrying health insurance be equal to the cost of purchasing a policy. Of course the best solution is to repeal the whole bill and start over, but this will take a couple of election cycles.
Michael Higgins
An Arizona health insurance broker.
602.405.8769