Projected Costs of Health Care Law Changing
The Congressional Business Office (CBO) reports that in 2016, which is when the 2010 health care law becomes fully in effect, 2% of Americans, or roughly 6 million individuals, will be subject to the health care penalty tax. This is significantly higher than the estimated 4 million, in large part due to higher than anticipated unemployment, lower wages and salaries as well as changes to the law since its passage in 2010.
The new penalty is the infamous individual mandate upheld by the Supreme Court as a tax, which requires that you either obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, amounting to $695 or 2.5% of your annual household income. The tax is expected to bring in more than $7 billion in 2016 and $8 billion thereafter.
In addition, the CBO projected that the total amount of individuals who will remain uninsured with be 30 million, up from the projected 21 million. The reason why it is projected that 6 million will be subject to the tax is because the other 24 million include: undocumented aliens, Indian tribe members and those with lower incomes.
The CBO has projected that the total cost for the new law will be upward of $2.6 trillion dollars in the next 10 years, which is significantly higher than the first estimates of $900 billion and covers fewer individuals than first thought.
This article is provided for informational purposes only. Nothing in this article shall be construed as legal advice or should be relied upon as such. Michael LaMagna is a partner at Timins & LaMagna, LLP, practicing Health Care Regulatory, Elder /Probate/Disability/Trusts and Estates, Social Security and General Legal practice in both New York and Connecticut. Michael was just appointed to the ACO Task Force of the American Health Lawyers Association. Email him at Mlamagna@nyandctlaw.com, call him at 914-819-0663 or visit Attorney LaMagna's website at www.nyandctlaw.com for more information.