Key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also referred to as the Affordable Care Act, ACA, or Obamacare) (P.L. 111-148) are set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2014. This includes the individual mandate, which requires all individuals without an exemption to have minimum essential health coverage or pay a penalty (Code Sec. 5000A). Individuals must also have coverage for their dependents up to age 18. In the case of an adopted child or a child placed for foster care, the requirement for coverage starts with the first month after the legal adoption or acceptance of the placement.
Final regulations on the individual mandate clarify some important rules (T.D. 9632, Aug. 27, 2013). The final regulations generally follow proposed regulations issued last February (REG-148500-12). The preamble to the final regulations discusses commentators' suggestions, most of which were rejected by the IRS.
