Will IRS Bully People To Sign Up For Health Care?

The daughter of a friend of mine called me the other day, telling me her coverage is being dropped and she will have no insurance as of 1-1-14. She asked me what she should do. I told her, "next time, vote for the Republican."  For the time being, ObamaCare is here with us. The individual mandate, at the very core of ObamaCare, requires all Americans have health insurance.  The administration hopes millions of Americans will voluntarily comply with the mandate and purchase "government approved" coverage. If we Americans don't purchase it voluntarily, we will be punished.  Funny, but I never heard him mentioning this when he trumpeted this law.  Starting next year, the government will collect a financial "penalty" from Americans who don't go along with the ObamaCare edict.

Initially the penalty starts small..$95 per adult and $47.50 per child...but is expected to grow substantially greater, in short order. The threat of "coercion"
lies behind the enitre ObamaCare plan. How coercive can/will the government be?  The Democrats who wrote the ACA (ObamaCare) in 2009 gave the IRS the power to collect penalties. The law's authors (Democrats) forbade the IRS from bringing criminal charges or placing leins on property etc, on those refusing to purchase the government defined "minimum essential coverage." The Democrats did, however, give IRS the authority to seize federal tax refunds and/or seek payment through correspondence or phone calls from IRS employees.  The main leverage IRS has is the refund "offset." In other words, if a taxpayer is due a refund but has also incurred an ObamaCare penalty, the penalty will be subtracted from the refund. So a taxpayer who has a $600 refund coming but incurs a $825 ObamaCare penalty, will recieve no refund. Rest assured IRS will be seeking the balance due from the tax payer. The administration's level of aggressiveness will likely be determined by how many Americans voluntarily comply with the law. ObamaCare needs alot of them to survive. It must keep growing...alot! If ObamaCare is a great deal that millions of Americans love, it will reach stated goals with no problem. If, however, it presents Americans with policies that don't fit their needs, are too expensive, have cripplingly high deductibles and narrow choices of doctors, many will balk at buying such a product. It's not that they will reject health coverage; it's that they'll reject health coverage that's a bad deal. Are we having fun yet? Until next time, my friends.