Yes, and apparently idiots, as well. We pay for medical expenses.
The lack of clarity in this whole process...the worry, confusion, and stress, I strongly believe has had more of a negative impact on my health than cigarettes have had.
And now for the rant... a big one...after the fact, I'm now seeing information I could not locate before.
On several occasions when looking to see if we could get coverage, and seeing the cost prohibitive policies...most of which were not accepted locally, anyway, and weren't even practical for medical services...I attempted to find out what the rules were for those who found coverage cost prohibitive, and how to document it, since I had heard there was a way for those that could not afford coverage to avoid being penalized for it.
In my idiocy at the time, seeing the Obamacare site showed no mention of how to handle the matter under the law when cost of coverage was out of reach when estimates displayed, it seems I should have intuited that I
ought to apply for coverage I knew I had no way of paying for.
Instead, I went directly to the source, the IRS site, trying to find out what the rules would be, so I could do what would be required for our situation. However, the IRS has not been making most tax forms and publications that apply to the year one is living in available to the public. They are not available until that year has passed, and it is tax filing time.
(The IRS makes forms that facilitate you paying money to them in this year available, but not forms for knowing what you will have to pay...and oh, maybe being in a position to be able to plan for it...so, you can find 2015 estimated tax payment forms to pay throughout the year on income earned in 2015, but you cannot get the 2015 income tax returns to see how and what new rules apply to 2015 until some time in 2016.)
If you want to see for yourself, click
Instructions for Form 8965 and then right click and look at the document Properties. It was created on 1/15/15. It shows an option for a waiver of penalty that requires one to have obtained an ECN through the marketplace in 2014, but even having heard such a possibility existed, I couldn't find the IRS's rules about it during the time period I could have used the information.
At the time, I thought the place to go would be the IRS site, since that is the entity that would have publications regarding such matters, to see what proof requirement they had for those in our position, and the last time I checked was in mid-December 2014, less than 30 days from implementation. As an idiot I didn't anticipate a process I could find no information on. I scoured the website and could find no proof requirements. So, I resigned myself to having to pay a penalty for coverage I could not afford.
So now...in looking at forms not made available until 2015, I'm guessing...I actually could have avoided paying the penalty for 2014 if I had applied for coverage I had no reasonable expectation of being able to pay for, in order to get an ECN, whatever that is, that I hadn't heard about, and had intentionally looked for.
