With repeal pending, IRS will enforce mandate on 2017 taxes
Here's the message from the
"The
Burke emphasized that "taxpayers remain obligated to follow the law and pay what they may owe at the point of filing. The 2018 filing season will be the first time the
According to the
The tax, called a penalty, fine or the individual mandate, is one
The
More Alaskans chose to pay the penalty than those who purchased health insurance on the federal exchange this year. Premera Blue Cross-
If, in its sweeping tax reform bill the individual mandate is removed, relief won't arrive from the penalty until 2019 or whatever effective date is attached to the legislation, said
The
Some 4,230 of those earned an income between
Twice that many, or 8,420 Alaskans, are in the
Some 6.5 million people across the country also paid the individual mandate penalty, according to the
Sen.
"There are Alaskans making the calculated risk to go without insurance and pay the tax," she wrote. "They prefer to take a gamble, pay for care out of pocket, and hope nothing too bad happens because the insurance available to purchase is unaffordable. Eliminating this tax would allow Alaskans to have greater control over their money and health care decisions."
Murkowski wants to protect gains made in certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act while giving states more control.
"(That's) why I have been working for bipartisan solutions to the health care challenges we face. Instead of taxing people for not being able to afford coverage, we should be working to reduce costs and provide options," Murkowski wrote.
But insurance companies, hospitals and doctors have disagreed about removing the mandate on the fear that people need that "stick" along with the "carrot" of premium subsidies or they won't join insurance pools.
Fewer people sharing costs, Premera's President Jim Grazko has said, helps drive
Sullivan, in a
He spoke to people "focused on health care and they don't think removing the mandate will increase premiums in the state hardly at all," Sullivan said.
He also said the mandate is a regressive tax on middle class and working families, pointing to the statistic provided by the
Coons said that since open enrollment began
When
The five-year waiver will send about
Further optimal financials allowed Premera to repay the
Premera is also the lone company offering Alaskans individual insurance plans on the federal exchange after three companies exited in 2016.
With lower rates, the 1332 waiver uses the savings from smaller premium subsidies paid by the federal government to cover the costs of 33 expensive medical conditions. These remain in place even if
Premera was able to reduce Gold plans in 2018 by 26.7 percent. Still, the costs Alaskans pay for insurance, even with the federal subsidies, is often three times higher than a resident of
Insurance Division
Silver plans for Alaskans will go down an average of 20.6 percent, though the reduction was to amount to 29.0 percent before CSR funding was eliminated, Coons said.
Bronze plans will go down an average of 23.9 percent.
To show how that cost reduction translates, Coons said that for the Preferred Plus Silver 3000 HSA plan, a 40 year old non-smoker in
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