AHIP Practice Exam

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), not having minimum essential health coverage can result in potential tax penalties. The ACA originally included an individual mandate that required individuals to have health insurance or pay a penalty when they filed their taxes. Although the penalty was reduced to $0 at the federal level starting in 2019, some states have implemented their own individual mandates with corresponding penalties for those who do not maintain health coverage. Therefore, the consequence of not having minimum essential health coverage could be the imposition of these state-level penalties.

The other options do not accurately reflect the policies under the ACA. For instance, there is no longer a federal penalty for lacking coverage, and the options referring to denial of Medicare benefits or automatic enrollment in Medicaid do not apply as those programs have separate eligibility criteria and do not directly relate to the ACA’s minimum essential coverage requirement.