IRS: $20,000 Per Year Per Family For Obamacare

by Tim Brown

Hypocritically named, the Affordable Care Act is quickly being realized and even promoted as anything but affordable. Now, according to a final regulation put in place on Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumes that the cheapest health insurance plan under Obamacare for a family will cost $20,000 per year, beginning in 2016.

Under the Affordable Care Act, Americans are required to purchase health insurance or pay a tax to the IRS.

So how is the IRS assuming that the cost to families will be $20,000 per year? The examples they lay out demonstrate their assumptions.

The regulation reads, “The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000.”

The Bronze plan is the lowest tier health-insurance plan available. There are other tiers available such as Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

According to the examples that the IRS laid out concerning a family of five would have to purchase a Bronze plan, which would cost on average $20,000 per year.

These families, which earn $120,000 per year, would have to pay a tax (yes they are using the word penalty, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling and we will continue to call it a tax here) of $2,400 in 2016.

Just so this isn’t being misrepresented, here’s their clarification of the new tax system of Obamacare:

“(i) In 2016, Taxpayers H and J are married and file a joint return. H and J have three children: K, age 21, L, age 15, and M, age 10. No member of the family has minimum essential coverage for any month in 2016. H and J’s household income is $120,000. H and J’s applicable filing threshold is $24,000. The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000.

“(ii) For each month in 2016, under paragraphs (b)(2)(ii) and (b)(2)(iii) of this section, the applicable dollar amount is $2,780 (($695 x 3 adults) + (($695/2) x 2 children)). Under paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this section, the flat dollar amount is $2,085 (the lesser of $2,780 and $2,085 ($695 x 3)). Under paragraph (b)(3) of this section, the excess income amount is $2,400 (($120,000 – $24,000) x 0.025). Therefore, under paragraph (b)(1) of this section, the monthly penalty amount is $200 (the greater of $173.75 ($2,085/12) or $200 ($2,400/12)).

“(iii) The sum of the monthly penalty amounts is $2,400 ($200 x 12). The sum of the monthly national average bronze plan premiums is $20,000 ($20,000/12 x 12). Therefore, under paragraph (a) of this section, the shared responsibility payment imposed on H and J for 2016 is $2,400 (the lesser of $2,400 or $20,000).”

What makes this even more of a travesty is that the man in office’s legitimacy is definitely in question, has just had a Federal Court rule his actions as unconstitutional (means he broke the law), and the Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius is guilty of breaking Federal law as well. Yet these are the people placing the chains of unlawful laws on Americans.

So what can be done about it? Doesn’t look like much can take place in Washington. However, individual State nullification of the Affordable Care Act does have potential and is spreading like wildfire through many states. For more on nullification of Obamacare and its Constitutionality, read Publius Huldah’s recent article.

About Tim Brown