{"id":14740,"date":"2016-11-01T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T13:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/?p=14740"},"modified":"2020-09-29T12:37:08","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T17:37:08","slug":"i-dont-have-health-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/healthcare\/i-dont-have-health-insurance\/","title":{"rendered":"What If I Don\u2019t Have Health Insurance?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>You may wonder \u201cWhat if I don\u2019t have health insurance?\u201d This post was updated from a popular post with up-to-date info about the impact of having health insurance (or not) on your taxes.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDo I need health insurance to file taxes?\u201d<\/h2>\n

\"healthcare\"Before 2019, you\u00a0needed health insurance (or a qualifying exemption) or you were subject to a penalty payable with your\u00a0income tax return. It was referred to as the \u201cindividual responsibility payment.\u201d This was a central requirement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).<\/p>\n

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act<\/a> (TCJA) repealed the penalty (made the penalty amount $0) starting with tax year 2019. But you may wonder, \u201cDo I need health insurance to file taxes after the ACA penalty was repealed?\u201d The answer is no. You no longer will be penalized for not having health insurance.<\/p>\n

Before the TCJA change, you were subject to a penalty if you had a lapse in health insurance for a specific amount of time. You were required to answer questions about your healthcare coverage when you filed your tax return.<\/p>\n

Starting in 2019, taxpayers are no longer required to demonstrate that they have coverage or qualify for an exception. However, taxpayers who receive advance premium tax credits through an Exchange must still reconcile the credit when they file their tax returns.<\/p>\n

Previous Affordable Care Act requirements:<\/h2>\n

While the health tax penalty no longer applies, we\u2019ll cover a few questions and answers related to the previous health tax penalty:<\/p>\n

1 – \u201cWhy did the law include a\u00a0health insurance penalty?\u201d<\/h3>\n

The penalty was one way of making sure U.S. citizens and residents obtained the required coverage.<\/p>\n

2 – \u201cHow much was the penalty?\u201d<\/h3>\n

If you did not have coverage prior to 2019, and didn\u2019t qualify for an exemption, you\u00a0had to pay the greater\u00a0of these two amounts:<\/p>\n