Built into the Obamacare bill is a provision requiring the IRS by the end of June to notify people who did not have the minimum required health insurance coverage (MEC) that they were non-compliant and to inform them what was available via their state’s exchanges. According to a report released by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration on Thursday (report embedded below), the IRS sent the letters late, skipped some people who were supposed to get the letter, and “misled” people about the cost of plans. Note: misled is government doublespeak for lying.
The provision of Obamacare the report discusses (ACA Section 1502(c)) states the following:
NOTIFICATION OF NONENROLLMENT — Not later than June 30 of each year, the Secretary of the Treasury, acting through the Internal Revenue Service and in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall send a notification to each individual who files an individual income tax return and who is not enrolled in minimum essential coverage (as defined in section 5000A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986). Such notification shall contain information on the services available through the Exchange operating in the State in which such individual resides.
The purpose of the IRS letter is to encourage Americans to comply with Obamacare’s individual mandate that penalizes them for not having the government-defined appropriate coverage.
When the IRS finally sent the letters for the 2015 tax year, it stated a monthly cost to purchase the need coverage ($75/month) that was less than half the actual cost ($168/month). The agency attempted to explain the discrepancy by saying that they used numbers provided by the Department of Health and Human Services, adding that the $75 figure was true for “some taxpayers.” But when the inspector general requested documentation of those estimates but did not receive it.
Read the rest at: IRS Scandal
