The main provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), applies starting in 2014: Each person, other than those who are exempt, must have minimum essential coverage or pay a penalty. Each person must ensure that dependents also have minimum essential coverage or pay a penalty, which is one-half of the amount that would be paid by the person. In the words of the U.S. Supreme Court in NFIB v. Sebelius (132 S. Ct. 2566 (2012)), the penalty is a tax and it is collected by the IRS. The rules are very confusing to many people. Here are some of the practical and tax considerations of ACA as of now. The following information has been prepared with the help of Dr. Carolyn McClanahan, president of Life Planning Partners, Inc., a financial planning firm in Jacksonville, Fla.
Overview of ACA
The massive law is divided into various titles, some of which may be relevant to your practice while others are not.