How Easy It Is To Be Exempted From The Individual Mandate For Health Insurance
Dr. Aaron Carroll lists reasons that constitute a hardship that would allow a person to be exempt. I went to the original document here.
HardshipIn the Exemptions/MEC final rule, HHS specified at 45 CFR 155.605(g)(1) that a Marketplace must grant a hardship exemption to an applicant if the Marketplace determines that:
1. He or she experienced financial or domestic circumstances, including an unexpected natural or human-caused event, such that he or she had a significant, unexpected increase in essential expenses that prevented him or her from obtaining coverage under a qualified health plan;
2. The expense of purchasing a qualified health plan would have caused him or her to experience serious deprivation of food, shelter, clothing, or other necessities;

3. He or she experienced other circumstances that prevented him or her from obtaining coverage under a qualified health plan.
Number two describes a whole lot of people in this economy. I went without a bunch of "necessities" to pay for health insurance in my 20s, including food other than beans and a bed.
Now that the "Affordable" Care Act is coming, my health insurance, which I've already downgraded to bring the cost down, will surely go up a great deal. Gee, thanks.
There's more:
We clarify that Marketplaces may consider the following circumstances in determining what constitutes a hardship under 45 CFR 155.605(g)(1) if they prevent an individual from obtaining coverage under a QHP, which include an individual who-- becomes homeless;
has been evicted in the past six months, or is facing eviction or foreclosure;
has received a shut-off notice from a utility company;
recently experienced domestic violence;
recently experienced the death of a close family member;
recently experienced a fire, flood, or other natural or human-caused disaster that resulted in substantial damage to the individual's property;
filed for bankruptcy in the last 6 months;
incurred unreimbursed medical expenses in the last 24 months that resulted in substantial debt;
experienced unexpected increases in essential expenses due to caring for an ill, disabled, or aging family member;
is a child who has been determined ineligible for Medicaid and CHIP, and for whom a party
other than the party who expects to claim him or her as a tax dependent is required by court order to provide medical support. We note that this exemption should only be provided for the months during which the medical support order is in effect; or
as a result of an eligibility appeals decision, is determined eligible for enrollment in a QHP through the Marketplace, advance payments of the premium tax credit, or cost-sharing reductions for a period of time during which he or she was not enrolled in a QHP through the Marketplace, noting that this exemption should only be provided for the period of time affected by the appeals decision.
There are a few months this year that I let the electric bill, which is just exorbitant in LA, go to the shut-off notice stage, at which point I pay the bill before the due date. Simply getting a shut-off notice is a calculation on my part that allows me a little more float on it.
And as for the "recently experienced domestic violence," there are already false accusations of that (along with the actual ones, yes) used as ploys in custody battles and other disputes. I can see it being used similarly here.
This isn't to say it shouldn't be a reason one is exempt, just that it's ripe for abuse. But the easiest one to go with is the electric bill. Let it go to shut-off notice stage, pay the bill. Groovy!
The ACA is not an actual health insurance plan. It's a tax to soak the "rich" to pay for the healthcare of a large part of the constituency of the Democratic Party.
Responsibility to one's own maintenance is not a factor in this. It's a government program to make the guy with a "good" job pay for maintenance of the folks who slacked off during high school or dropped out or got an ethnic studies degree in college (because studying math is sooo haaard).
Conan the Grammarian at July 2, 2013 8:21 AM
For what it's worth, even when I was unemployed, I never let a utility bill get to the 'shut-off' notice stage. I just couldn't. Could be my anal-retentiveness, but I just couldn't let myself let my bills get to that point. I'd be a day or 2 late, maybe, but I'd get the damn things paid. I've only once ever had a bounced check, and I totally freaked out. Turned out it was the bank's mistake, because they credited a deposit to my savings account instead of my checking account, but I was devastated that I might have bounced a check! OMG, you'd have thought it was the end of the world! I even cried. When I called the bank, the person on the line was trying to calm me down, got the bank manager, who told me it was their mistake and they were crediting me back the money and the bounced check fee, but still...
I need to chill, don't I?
o.O
Flynne at July 2, 2013 9:19 AM
isn't it nice to have a mechanism by way that you can make your own constituent's lives easier by granting simple remedies as they are enumerated...
...and to make your enemies lives a living hell by requiring onerous and unreasonable paperwork and proofs for those very same exemptions, giving them the bureaucratic runaround, before denying them*?
*SEE Social Security Survivor and Child Benefits...
Some people go through lickety split... others try for years.
SwissArmyD at July 2, 2013 9:34 AM
The penalty for not getting health insurance for the first year is so much less than many people's monthly payment--why bother?
If you're crying over a bounced check--get a grip. There's far worse things happening in the world.
KateC at July 2, 2013 9:42 AM
Recent headline:
The Costs And Potential Causes For Tonight's Obamacare Delay
So what this will do is stop the small employers from pink slipping or cutting the hours of waitstaff, labor employees, hair stylists, etc. until after the 2015 election so the progressives can win back Congress.
There are any number of small business owners that have an interest in four small restaurants. They manage one, and the others are managed by other partners or other staff. But with four, they get to the 50 person limit. So it is either cut real hours or cut the number of staff. Think how the employees will react.
The same thing with the local plumber that has a bunch of vans. He can dump five employees to get under the 50 person limit. How are the unemployed going to react?
Just saying.
Jim P. at July 2, 2013 8:20 PM
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