Can I refuse to pay the penalty if I pay all of my medical expenses out of pocket? Let’s say I’m worth millions of dollars and I don’t want any health insurance company to have access to my health records. Can I just pay everything out of pocket instead? If so, I shouldn’t have to pay anything for not being enrolled in coverage because I’m technically covered by myself!
Private Person
Dear Private Person,
Self-insuring – paying all of your own medical bills – does not allow you to escape the requirement to have health insurance. Even if you were worth millions, it is possible to spend millions on medical care and still be alive. You might still not have enough money in other words to pay all of your own medical bills.
The penalty is a percentage of your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), not a percentage of your assets. For 2014, it is one percent of your MAGI. It scales up to 2.5 percent in 2016. There are plenty of legal ways to minimize your income, and therefore minimize your penalty.
You might want to consider having the insurance, so that you do not have to part with all of your money. You can decide to submit or not submit your bills for the insurer to pay.