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Affordable Care Act

Number of Americans without health insurance hits new low in 2014

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By The Associated Press, February 24, 2015 The share of Americans without health insurance dropped to its lowest level in seven years in 2014 as President Barack Obama’s overhaul took full effect, according to an extensive survey released Tuesday. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found that the trend appears likely to continue this year, since 55 percent of those who remained …

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Health insurance confusion likely for many filing taxes

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By Pamela Yip, February 22, 2015 Taxpayers are just starting to learn the complex connection between the Affordable Care Act and taxes. For the first time, taxpayers will have to state whether they had health insurance through an employer, a health insurance exchange or a private insurance policy. If they didn’t, they could face a tax penalty. “I don’t think …

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Enrollment Period for Health Insurance Ends; Now the Tax Penalties Start

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By Margot Sanger-Katz, February 17, 2015 The Affordable Care Act’s second open enrollment period ended on Sunday. Well, almost. Some computer problems over the weekend have led the administration to give a one-week extension to people who tried and failed to sign up. But its tax penalty season has just begun. For people who didn’t sign up for coverage last …

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Millions in health coverage gap seek to avoid tax penalty

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By Emily Schmall, February 14, 2015 Stephanie Daugherty earns too much from her part-time job at a doctor’s office to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to comfortably afford one of the health plans for sale through the federally-run insurance exchange that Texas and many states use. So the 26-year-old nursing student and mother paid a $180 tax penalty — …

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Obamacare enrollment enters final week

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By Ellen Jean Hirst, February 6, 2015 Sunday marks the start of the final week of Obamacare open enrollment, Year 2. Nationwide, about 9.9 million people have signed up for health insurance through federal or state exchanges since open enrollment began Nov. 15, handily beating the federal goal of 9.1 million. Illinois claimed 296,293 of those enrollees through Jan. 30. …

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Feds to Taxpayers: Did You Get Health Insurance?

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By Maggie Fox, January 28th, 2015 Two to 4 percent of taxpayers will end up paying a fine because they didn’t have health insurance last year, federal health officials predicted Wednesday. This is the first year that Americans will have to worry about health insurance at tax time. The 2010 Affordable Care Act requires that just about everyone have health …

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Eligible Americans Turn Down Obamacare Tax Credits

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By Kimberly Leonard, January 12, 2015 Grace Brewer says she never thought she would be without health insurance at this stage of her life. “I’m a casualty of Obamacare,” says Brewer, 60, a self-employed chiropractor in the Kansas City, Kansas, area. She wanted to keep the catastrophic health insurance plan she once had, which she says fit her needs. But under the Affordable Care Act, the government’s health …

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Obamacare: One Year Review

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Well, it’s been a year since the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, was officially launched.  It’s been a trying year at best—but not all bad.  In fact, there are a few bright spots. A little over a year ago, I wrote an article entitled “The Unraveling of the Affordable Care Act.”  Unfortunately, the unraveling of this historic legislation is continuing, …

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No health insurance? Penalties rise in 2015

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By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar /Associated Press, December 30, 2014 The cost of being uninsured in America is going up significantly next year for millions of people. It’s the first year all taxpayers have to report to the Internal Revenue Service whether they had health insurance for the previous year, as required under President Barack Obama’s law. Those who were uninsured face …

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