Few Will Pay Fee For Skipping Health Insurance, New IRS Regulations Show

Can go for 3 months before tax kicks in

Hardly anyone will have to pay the tax for not having health insurance coverage come 2014 when the health reform law takes full effect. In fact, the Urban Institute has projected that only about 2 percent of Americans would likely have to pay what the government calls the “shared responsibility payment.” The mandate is meant to make sure that people don’t wait until they are sick to buy health insurance. Starting next year, you’ll have to declare where you get your health insurance on your income tax form. But new regulations from the IRS and the Health and Human Services Department explain the ways people can get out of paying the tax ($95 in 2014, $325 in 2015 and $695 or 2.5 percent of household income in 2016). People will get one "three-month slide" in which they can go for as long as three months without health insurance before the payment kicks in. (NBC News)

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