Most people don’t believe having to pay a penalty for remaining uninsured will motivate them to buy insurance starting in October. That’s according to the results of a new consumer survey that HealthPocket, Inc., a California firm that ranks and provides information on health plans, issued on April 18. Nearly two-thirds of respondents answered “no” […]
Most people don’t believe having to pay a penalty for remaining uninsured will motivate them to buy insurance starting in October.
That’s according to the results of a new consumer survey that HealthPocket, Inc., a California firm that ranks and provides information on health plans, issued on April 18.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents answered “no” to the survey question, “Will the $95 IRS penalty motivate you to shop this October for an Obamacare health plan?”
Only 8 percent of respondents answered “yes” and nearly 30 percent were unsure.
Beginning in 2014, the national health-care reform law will require consumers to buy health insurance.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will levy a tax penalty on consumers who fail to purchase health insurance, with some exceptions for people with financial hardships or religious beliefs that preclude them from purchasing health insurance, among others.
The tax penalty for not buying health insurance will start at $95 per individual, or 1 percent of household income, whichever is greater.
By 2016, the penalty will rise to 2.5 percent of annual household income or a minimum of $695 per person, whichever is greater.
“From this new poll, we now know that the penalty alone will not drive a large number of consumers to purchase a new health plan starting this October,” Bruce Telkamp, CEO of HealthPocket, said in a news release. “Therefore, the law will be most effective if consumers see real value in obtaining the insurance coverage. Only insurers that offer high quality and affordable health plans should expect to see significant new enrollments this fall,” Telkamp said.
The poll also found the $95 tax penalty is as ineffective in motivating younger respondents to buy health insurance as it was for survey respondents as a whole. The survey found 61 percent of 18 to 24-year-old respondents and 55 percent of respondents aged 25 to 34 had said “no” to the tax-penalty question.
If younger, healthier populations choose to face the penalty and don’t enter the insurance pool, insurance premiums for the entire market could rise due to the higher costs of coverage for the older and less healthy enrollees who remain in the pool, according to HealthPocket.
Nearly 30 percent of respondents said they were “not certain” whether the penalty will motivate them to buy a health plan.
That uncertainty may stem from a lack of awareness about the tax penalty under ACA, or a lack of understanding of how that penalty amount will compare to the cost of a new “Obamacare-health plan,” Kev Coleman, head of Research & Data at HealthPocket and researcher of the poll, said in the news release.
The tax penalty is not the only strategy that the health law will use to promote enrollment, according to HealthPocket.
Some premium and out-of-pocket assistance is available for individuals making less than 400 percent of the federal-poverty level, or $45,960, in 2013 for individuals.
When examining responses from consumers who fall in this income range, HealthPocket found that 63 percent still responded “no,” indicating that an outreach program that speaks to this population is needed.
HealthPocket conducted the Infopoll survey of 1,003 people between April 12 and April 16. Google implemented the methodology to acquire survey respondents who approximate national statistics on age, gender, and region, according to HealthPocket.
Infopoll, Inc. is a Nova Scotia, Canada–based online-survey software and hosting company, according to its website.
HealthPocket describes itself as “a free website that compares and ranks all health plans available to an individual, family, or small business, so everyone can make their best health-plan decision and save on their out-of-pocket costs.
The Sunnyvale, Calif–based company uses only objective data from government, nonprofit, and private sources that carry no conditions that might restrict the site from serving as an unbiased resource, according to its description.
The founders of HealthPocket.com “spent decades pioneering online access to health- insurance information and knew they could offer something different that can positively change how people buy and use healthcare in the U.S.,” the description says.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com