Obamacare Penalty to Include Jail for Non-Compliance


Posted by John Romano in News and Analysis on September 25, 2009

WASHINGTON (YBH.ME) – Nevada Senator John Ensign received a follow-up response today from Thomas A. Barthold, the Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, to an earlier inquiry about the penalty for failing to buy health insurance under the proposed Baucus health care bill.

The follow-up, in the form of a handwritten note, contained a blunt response to Mr. Ensign’s question as to what would happen to someone who willfully failed to purchase insurance.  Mr. Barthold wrote that the non-complier would face  “no more than a year in jail”  or a penalty of   “up to $25,000.”

Under a bill now before the Senate individuals and families that do not purchase health insurance face a penalty of up to $1,900 per year.  The original penalty ceiling was $3,800 which was scaled back this week.

PDF of the handwritten note to Senator John Ensign from Thomas A. Barthold.

Related posts:

  1. Pelosi Bill: Jail For Non-Compliance On Health Insurance
  2. Obama’s Health Insurance Mandate And Penalty Flip-Flop
  3. Health Care Bill’s Language at Odds With President’s Comments

This entry was posted on September 25, 2009, 6:52 pm and is filed under News and Analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. #1 by CTM on September 27, 2009 - 6:03 am

    How does this possible incentivize a private system to lower costs? It seems that if the option is "buy or go to jail" then the sellers can charge as much as they want since the buyers have no choice but to "purchase" the coverage.

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