Can A Bare Bones Policy Keep you Legal?
Does your health insurance plan offer the minimum essential coverage to avoid fines under the Affordable Care Act? For the 2015 tax year and beyond, your insurer or employer will be sending a form along with your W2 (or at the same time) in order to prove that you have met the individual requirement for getting health insurance. While the vast majority of plans sold in the United States will meet these requirements for eligibility, some people may find their insurance lacking if they had been covered under supplemental plans.
Typically, all employer sponsored plans include minimum coverage because if they do not then the employer pays a fine. If you have government sponsored insurance, like Medicare or Medicaid, you will not need to worry about getting fined unless there was a lapsed time period during the year that you were not insured. The same thing goes for VA insurance. Since the ACA took effect, almost every plan has been transitioned or eliminated if it did not fit the MEC guidelines, so it would be unusual if your company plan did not change somehow in the interim. Most people with such plans quickly noticed that the price went up or their insurer changed or their employer fired enough people to fly under the radar and stop offering coverage to employees.
Supplemental Plans Don't Qualify!
Plans that are not covered or considered to be Minimum Essential Coverage include things like dental and vision care without the corresponding healthcare insurance, car insurance, Medicaid for TB, emergency conditions, and pregnancy, and AmeriCorps coverage. If you are missing this level of coverage you may want to find a local healthcare navigator or insurer who can get you signed up, or you might want to check with your insurer. For all of those who "liked their plan," and "liked their doctor," there may be a rude awakening but that does not excuse you from walking around like a lawbreaker.
Which Forms You Will Get or Report With
There are a lot of complex rules about how forms are filed and which forms are used, but as a general rule the employee, employer, and insurer all have to file forms. Healthcare providers are required to file forms 1095-B and 1095-C, along with other evidence of coverage such as 1094 B and C by the 31st of January. Employees will get their respective forms and then use the handy math quiz on their tax form in order to determine whether they were actually eligible for any subsidies that they may have gotten in the previous year. If not, there will be a lower tax refund or a higher amount paid back to the IRS.