CBO: 11 Million Uninsured Americans Will Be Subject to Obamacare's Individual Mandate 'Penalty Tax'

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2012/09/20/cbo-11-million-uninsured-americans-will-be-subject-to-obamacares-individual-mandate-penalty-tax/

Today, the Congressional Budget Office announced the results of a new analysis of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, the law’s provision that forces Americans to buy health insurance or face a fine. According to CBO, 11-12 million uninsured Americans will be subject to the mandate; the agency expects more than half of them to pay the fine instead of buying insurance. But there’s something that the CBO didn’t say: as more people pay the “tax penalty” instead of buying insurance, premiums for everyone else will go up, potentially triggering a death spiral in the private insurance market.

But the CBO estimates that, of the 30 million U.S. residents it expects to be uninsured in 2016, 18 to 19 million are exempt from the mandate. There are around 10-12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., and illegal immigrants are exempted from the mandate. Other residents are exempted from the mandate: those with low incomes, members of Indian tribes, and those whose premiums would exceed 8 percent of their income.