Purchase or Else: The Health Insurance ‘Tax’

8 Pages Posted: 18 Jan 2010

See all articles by Rodney P. Mock

Rodney P. Mock

California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo - Orfalea College of Business

Jeffrey Tolin

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo - Orfalea College of Business

Date Written: January 11, 2010

Abstract

With the Affordable Health Care for America Act, H.R. 3962, 111th Cong. (2009) passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate’s version of a health care bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, H.R. 3590, 111th Cong. (2009) recently passed, this article reviews the particulars of each Act’s respective tax or penalty imposed on individual taxpayers who fail to purchase acceptable health care coverage, and questions whether or not such constitutes a “tax” at all, and if such does, whether or not it is an unconstitutional regulatory tax, indirectly regulating that which Congress cannot under the “Commerce Clause” of the U.S. Constitution; namely, non-participating taxpayers who merely “fail to purchase.”

Keywords: Universal Health Care, tax, health insurance tax, health insurance penalty, unconstitutional, commerce clause, purchase mandate, H.R. 3962, H.R. 3590, health insurance, regulatory tax, Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, Affordable Health Care for America Act

Suggested Citation

Mock, Rodney P. and Tolin, Jeffrey, Purchase or Else: The Health Insurance ‘Tax’ (January 11, 2010). Tax Notes, Vol. 126, No. 224, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1536606

Rodney P. Mock (Contact Author)

California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo - Orfalea College of Business ( email )

San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
United States

Jeffrey Tolin

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo - Orfalea College of Business ( email )

San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.cob.calpoly.edu/

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