In 2015, more than a quarter of a million North Carolina households were forced to pay a tax for not purchasing an Obamacare health insurance plan. In that year alone, the state total amounted to $48 million. Nationwide, 7.9 million returns paid out $1.6 billion.
Who are the people impacted by Obamacare’s individual mandate tax? 85 percent earn less than $50,000, the IRS reports. That figure alone is pretty telling that Obamacare plans are not affordable for the lower-middle class.
Thanks to tax reform, these households will find relief knowing that the individual mandate is set to be repealed in 2019. Yet there is much more work to be done at the federal level in order for people to have better health insurance options. With a fresh start to 2018, let’s hope that Congress pushes health reform to the top of its agenda.
