Not everybody has to pay for insurance. You might be asking yourself if you are one of them. Well Let’s find out. To know if you don’t have to buy a health insurance you need to ask yourself an few questions. Those questions are listed below. The answer you give to the question will determine if you have to pay or not.
How much do you earn?
The current 2013 law states that any person earning less than $10,000 will not have to file a tax return. In the case of families, the same law applies to those earning less than $20,000.
Do you get any assistance from the institutions listed below when paying for your health care?
TRICARE,
A veteran’s health plan,
Medicaid or CHIP,
Medicare
Any person that get assistance for the institutions listed above will not have to pay for insurance
Do you find yourself in any of the groups listed below?
Prisoner
Undocumented immigrant
American Indian
Living outside U.S. For more than a year
A member of a religious group that is against health insurance
If you find yourself in any of those group you don’t have to pay insurance.
Are you required to pay more than 8% of what you earn in health insurance?
In the situation where your employer does not offer health insurance coverage and in the state you find yourself in you can’t find a plan that will cost you a monthly premium that is less than 8% of what you earn in a month then you are exempt. This law does not apply to family income, it only applies to single adults. You will not be penalized for not paying the insurance in that case.
Does your employer offer insurance?
The 8% law might still apply even if you are covered by your employer but you need to check a few things.
First look for the lowest premium fee paid for health care. Take note of how much your boss in contributing and subtract it from the cost of the premium. If after subtraction the amount left is more than 8% of your monthly income you can consider yourself exempt. Otherwise you will have to get an insurance or you will be fined.
In the situation where your employee doesn’t pay for insurance you may still go to the health insurance Marketplace to find out if they can also assist you in paying for it. You will have to take your time and properly research through the different options available. In the process you will have to specify your family size and answer questions related to how much money you earn per year.
Take your time to look for the different lowest cost plans available. Always have a calculator with you to estimated how much a premium is going to cost you in a year. If you find they offer bronze level plans, you should give it a try, they would usually cost you much less monthly fees. There are also catastrophic plans but that only applies to those less than 30.
As a rule of thumb if the amount you are expected to pay as a monthly premium is higher than 8% of what you earn each month then you don’t have to pay.
