As of January 2022, there was a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) also colloquially called Obamacare which penalized persons who did not acquire medical insurance coverage. Nonetheless, beginning in 2019, this provision was practically abrogated. Formally known as the individual mandate penalty, the provision expected all individuals to have a qualifying coverage or pay a charge during earning filing.
The penalty was adjusted to forty dollars, beginning with the tax year 2019, as a result of the provision of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. This implies that at the federal level, there is no longer a financial penalty for the lack of health insurance. Such exceptions may not hold true for some jurisdictions since they are allowed to have their own individual mandates or penalties with respect to the lack of health insurance coverage.
Nonetheless, Many people orient themselves towards the advantages of reviewing such laws and state health insurance requirements so as not to face non-compliance penalties. But again, though there may be no such punishment, it is advisable to consider having medical insurance in order to protect oneself from unexpected expenses related to illness and to ease the accessing of the necessary medical healthcare services.
