Starting next year, individuals who are not covered by health insurance will owe a penalty—capped at $95 a person for 2014, but due to rise later. If the penalty is not paid, the Internal Revenue Service can dock the offender’s tax refund.

The IRS will not have access to any taxpayer’s medical records. Rather, the insurance companies will report who has coverage, listing names, addresses and tax ID numbers. If a company providing coverage self-insures, it will make the report.

A generous schedule of subsidies will be provided to help people purchase health insurance, covering even a family of four with an income of $94,200. Minimum-income families may qualify for free coverage under Medicaid. (Uncle Sam has hired a credit reporting agency to verify incomes of those who apply.)

There’s also a temporary tax on insurers ($2 per person covered this year), that’s due to rise with health-care inflation.

For nearly 30 years, Mike Nickerson has owned and managed a small, full-service accounting practice in the Midcoast. He holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from University of Southern Main and a master's degree in financial planning from Bentley University.

He is a past board member and president of the Maine Society of Certified Public Accountants and currently serves on the Maine Board of Accountancy.

An aged rock musician, Nickerson now finds musical enjoyment playing upright and electric bass in a variety of bands spanning folk to jazz music genres. He and his wife have three grown children, and they enjoy their free time hiking, kayaking, golfing, bicycling and motorcycling.

http://www.nickersonpa.com/