The Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as Obamacare, made mandatory health insurance law for all Americans. Right? Well, sort of yes and sort of no. Obamacare aimed to fix health care in US. Its concept was to create affordable health insurance by making it universal and creating a healthcare marketplace for each US state. It also expanded Medicaid, but not all states opted into this expansion. The general idea is that if you do not participate by making sure you are covered, you have to pay a penalty for opting out. This comes in the form of a fine on your federal tax return. While the aim was to provide universal health care in US, the actual law was about insurance, not health care per se. The reality is that there are a long list of …show more content…
(-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) Extensive property damage from fire, flood et al. (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) You were a victim of domestic violence. (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) Your state didn’t expand Medicaid and you otherwise would have qualified. (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) Death in the family. (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) This is not a comprehensive list. If you had any significant life events that constituted a financial hardship resulting in loss of health insurance, you may qualify for an exemption. It wouldn't hurt to apply. Obamacare is currently under political assault. The Trump administration promised to repeal it, so health care in US is in flux. One of the very first things President Trump did when he took office was to instruct administrators to interpret things more loosely. He felt that mandatory health insurance was a burden on American citizens. He wanted to lighten that