The Congressional Budget Offices estimate that 13 million people would enroll in the Affordable Care Acts health care exchanges during the 2015 open enrollment season had been scaled back by the Department of Health and Human Services estimate of 10 million enrollees; and the Obama Administration now says 11.7 million people are estimated to have actually enrolled in the marketplaces during 2015 open enrollment. But with all these rule changes, all these extensions and all these penalty exemptions, how can Americans take the rules seriously?
My sense is that many Americans will be trying to fly under the radar. And I can envision the turmoil and outrage which will be expressed when the penalties hit. My guess is that the Internal Revenue Service will have no choice but to extend their policy of leniency in enforcing the individual mandate penalty. This lack of revenue will need to be made up somewhere. New taxes, perhaps?
