Q&A: Six ways the health-care bill could affect you The Star-Ledger NJ.com
Q: I’m 28, single and healthy. I don’t have health insurance. Is it true the new law would penalize me unless I buy a health care plan? If so, why?
A: Yes, you would be penalized, through a phased-in system that kicks in four years from now: $95 or 1 percent of your taxable income in 2014, whichever is greater; $325 or 2 percent of your taxable income in 2015; $695 or 2.5 percent of your taxable income in 2016 (with a household maximum of $2,085); and amounts afterward that are based on the cost-of-living adjustment.
Here is the government’s justification for penalties: You are now what economists call a "free rider." Your decision not to pay anything for health care, they say, is tantamount to ignoring the ever-present risk that you might get sick or injured. And if you do get sick or injured now, your care is effectively paid through taxpayer funds — through charity or emergency care, for example — even though you lack the insurance plans that other people pay for. For health-care reform to be sustainable, and to make financial sense for insurance companies, even relatively healthy people must have a plan. They can’t wait until they get sick or hurt to buy one.
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