Individual Mandate Included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

ACA obliges that by the beginning of 2014 most persons should uphold health insurance coverage or else pay noncompliance. Individuals will be needed to uphold minimum important coverage for themselves as well as their dependents. Some people will be exempted from the penalty and mandate, while others might get financial assistance to assist them pay for the health insurance coverage costs and the costs related to utilizing health care services. Generally, persons who are not exempted from the obligation must uphold minimum important coverage to evade the penalty (Mach, 2014). Minimum important coverage is broadly defined in statute and is adversely described in regulations. The description includes most forms of government-sponsored coverage that include Medicare and most forms of private insurance that include employer-sponsored insurance. It is important to note that health insurance coverage that includes excepted benefits that include dental-only coverage, are not included in the minimum important coverage (Mach, 2014).

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The ACA requires that all eligible people should embrace the minimum significant health coverage for personal benefits and for the benefit of their dependents.  Those who fail to attain the obligation might be needed to pay a penalty for every noncompliance month. The penalty will be computed as the greater of a portion of the applicable income which is identified as the amount in which a personal’s household income goes beyond the applicable threshold of filing for the appropriate tax year. The threshold of filing consists of the personal exemption,, which is double for individual completing their form jointly, together with the standard deduction value. This percentage was supposed to be 1.0% for 2014, in 2015, it was supposed to increase to 2.0% and 2.5% after the 2015. The penalty can also be computed as the amount of a flat dollar which is assessed on every taxpayer and any family members or dependents. In 2014, the phased annual amount of flat dollar was $95 in 2015 it was $325 and in 2016 and beyond it was $695 (Mach, 2014).

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The amount is adjusted based on the level of inflation and it is evaluated for every taxpayer and their dependents. The penalty amount in this case is lowered by one-half for under age (below 18 years) dependents . The penalty of the whole family is fixed at 300% of the yearly annual flat amount of dollar. However, the noncompliance penalty cannot go beyond the average national premium for qualified bronze-level health plans provided via exchanges based on the size of the family. Any penalty which the taxpayers are needed to pay for their dependents or for themselves has to be incorporated in their taxable year return. In addition, the persons who file joint returns are together liable for the penalty (Mach, 2014).

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