HR3590 Health Care Bill & Government Health Insurance

The law requires every American to get hold of insurance. It pushes for US citizens and legal residents to avail of “minimal essential coverage” for themselves and their dependents. There are two ways to purchase health insurance — one way is through an employer, and another is through new marketplaces that will sell policies to individuals.

If you think there’s no price to pay if you fail to get health insurance for you and your dependents, think again. Ignoring the government’s call would cost you to pay tax penalties to the federal government by 2014. You may think the penalty is just a small amount to pay, but wait until 2016 when the law is fully phased-in; that’s the time you would regret not getting insurance now.

Come 2016, a person without any insurance would be facing penalties of $695 per family member that isn’t insured, or 2.5% of your household income, whichever is deemed higher. There are only a few people exempted from getting insurance — those with religious objections, illegal immigrants, people in prison, and American Indians.

The government decided these measures are necessary to expand coverage and bring in new sets of customers to health insurance providers, which interestingly include those individuals who might not need too much of a healthcare security. This is how providers will be able to recover from the losses that they might incur when they won’t be able to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.