Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) introduced legislation on Friday that would delay the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate tax penalty for one year.
The Simple Fairness Act would aim to bring relief to those who are faced with higher healthcare costs in the wake of ACA’s rollout.
“Millions of Americans are losing the health insurance they liked, losing access to the doctors they have always seen, subjecting their personal data to an unsecure system and are paying higher premiums they cannot afford, because of the president’s healthcare law,” Jenkins said. “This law is not working and it is hurting the American people.”
President Obama recently delayed a provision of the healthcare law to protect businesses from the employer mandate tax, Jenkins said, and it’s unfair not to provide the same relief to taxpayers.
“The Simple Fairness Act will give hardworking Americans a one-year delay of the individual mandate tax to provide relief and protect families from this unworkable law,” Jenkins said. “This legislation is about fairness, as it would authorize the same delay for individual Americans that the president keeps giving to businesses.”
Under the Affordable Care Act, individuals will face a fine of $95 or one percent of their taxable income for not purchasing health insurance in 2014, and the fine is scheduled to increase to $325 or two percent of taxable income in 2015.