This is why enrollment in health insurance will continue to rise in the US from the ACA.
For 2016: Max of $695 or 2.5 percent of taxable income if uninsured.
Full text is below.
Health law fine for uninsured to rise
Boston Globe
Associated Press October 19, 2015
WASHINGTON — The federal penalty for having no health insurance is set to jump to $695, and the Obama administration is being urged to highlight that fact in its new pitch for health law signups.
That means the 2016 signup season starting Nov. 1 could see penalties become a bigger focus for millions of people who have remained eligible for coverage but uninsured. They’re said to be squeezed for money and skeptical about spending what they have on health insurance.
Until now, health overhaul supporters have stressed the benefits: taxpayer subsidies that pay about 70 percent of the monthly premium, financial protection against sudden illness or an accident, and access to regular preventive and follow-up medical care.
But in 2016, the penalty for being uninsured will rise to the greater of either $695 or 2.5 percent of taxable income. That’s for someone without coverage for a full 12 months. This year the comparable numbers are $325, or 2 percent of income.
Marketing usually involves stressing the positive. Rising penalties meet no one’s definition of good news. Still, that may create a new pitch:
The math is pretty clear. A consumer would be able to get six months or more of coverage for $695, instead of owing that amount to the IRS as a tax penalty. (That is based on subsidized customers now putting in an average of about $100 a month of their own money.)”