Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) will introduce legislation to ***delay the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate*** by six months, arguing that Americans should not be penalized for failing to buy coverage they cannot easily access through HealthCare.gov.
“How are you going to go after people next year using the IRS to punish them if the thing you’re forcing them to buy isn’t available for them to buy because the website is not working,” Rubio asked during an appearance on Fox & Friends on Tuesday. “The law I’m going to introduce basically delays that requirement until the GAO [Government Accountability Office] certifies it has been up and running for six months consecutive.”
WTF!! Confused I did a we bit of digging, considering the debacle that just occurred, Rubio can not be continuing this line of thinking/action. I did find the source with the video segment attached. Although he states that he believes ACA should be repealed; his issue, in regards to the legislation he is proposing, is with the IRS penalty and the healthcare.gov site. BUT what he and many others seem to forget, the website is NOT the only means of applying and by using the excuse that the website is down absolves people from taking personal responsibility.
For example, if you neglect to pay your phone bill because your phone company's website is down, it's on you if your phone service gets turned off, because you could have called them, mailed a check, or shown up at one of their offices. Or, if you overdraw your bank account because your bank's website was down when you wanted to check your balance or transfer funds, that's your responsibility. You could easily have called them, or gone to a local branch or ATM.
Also, he forgets that unless you receive a tax refund, the IRS cannot subject citizens to penalties or criminal charges. As stated in the ACA: "The penalty will be paid as a federal tax liability on income tax returns and is enforced by the Treasury. Individuals that fail to pay the penalty will not be subject to criminal penalties, liens or levies"
And the deadline is March 31, 2014 for ACA sign up, thereby putting off this "penalty" until 2015. So either Rubio doesn't understand how our federal income tax work or he's lying to sow confusion about next years returns. I really need to find a copy of this legislation to see what it actually says!!
Days After Shutdown Ends, Rubio Introduces Legislation To Delay Obamacare | ThinkProgress
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