01/04/10 CBO: IRS Faces More Duties Under Health Care Overhaul

[admin]

The Congressional Budget Office is reporting that under the new health care legislation, the Internal Revenue Service agents will be responsible for checking to see whether Americans have health insurance. The House and Senate bills require most Americans to have health insurance and to prove it on their annual federal tax return. Those who don’t would pay a penalty to the IRS. That’s one of several key duties the IRS would assume under the bills that have been approved by the House and Senate and will be merged by negotiators from both chambers. The agency also would distribute as much as $140 billion a year in new government subsidies to help small employers and as many as 19 million lower-income people buy coverage. In addition, the IRS would collect hundreds of billions of dollars in new fees on employers, drug companies and device makers, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

For more information:
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2010/January/04/IRS.aspx

[SinclairVega]

I wouldn't think this would be a problem. It's seems that the IRS could look at your SS# to see whether or not you have insurance or not. I think it's economically feasible to have the IRS involved in collecting taxes on health care insurance rather than starting a new division.