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.
