NJ: The Obama administration will not require the millions of Americans who received health-insurance plan cancellation notices to purchase a new policy next year.
They're granting those consumers an exemption from the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, a Department of Heath and Human Services spokeswoman confirmed. The mandate requires everyone to have health insurance or face a tax penalty, the greater of $95 or 1 percent of income in 2014.
The administration will also allow those consumers to sign up for catastrophic coverage. Those bare-bones plans are available to people who are under 30 or qualify for a "hardship exemption."
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a letter to Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., that the administration is granting a "hardship exemption" to Americans whose plans were canceled and "might be having difficulty" paying for standard coverage.
The allowance comes after months of political fallout from the president's promise that "if you like your plan, you can keep your plan," which proved untrue this fall after millions of people received notices from insurance companies informing them that their current policies did not meet coverage requirements under the new law and therefore would not be offered next year.
Related links: With At Least 500,000 People Who Had Had Insurance Now Without It, Obama Creates More Law With His Mouth-Hole
The individual mandate no longer applies to people whose plans were canceled
WHAT? Obama admin now telling insurers to sell basic plans that DON’T MEET Obamacare guidelines
