An Indiana man named Benjamin Miller posted a photo on Facebook of what he alleges is a bill from the IRS for $2,344 as a penalty for not purchasing Obamacare.
Editor’s note: We’re not linking to his Facebook page because of personal information visible in the photo
Mr. Miller writes in the post accompanying the pic that he didn’t buy Obamacare because his premiums jumped by over $1000 per month after his current insurance was cancelled:
Thanks Obama for the fine for not having insurance
Because the the plan I had that was 398.00 a month for my family only increased to 1400.00 a month in 2014
So I chose not to pay 1400.00 a month
So got a nice little fine
Thanks for the affordable care act.
Thanks for making it so affordable!!
The photo is starting to go viral on social media with Republican pollster Frank Luntz tweeting it to his 63,000+ followers (with Mr. Miller’s address obscured):
Brace yourselves…
The Obamacare fines are coming. ?#ACA #SharedResponsibility pic.twitter.com/KTkde4MQMh— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) October 15, 2015
Many are commenting on how the penalty or tax has become the “Orwellian” sounding “shared responsibility payment”:
@FrankLuntz @Rebeksy Shared responsibility payment, such clever Orwellian Newspeak.
— Horst von Horstmann (@Kaboom1776) October 15, 2015
https://twitter.com/wpchildress/status/654726989476032512
@FrankLuntz "shared responsibility payment" sounds like an Orwellian euphamism
— libertarian neocon (@libneocon) October 15, 2015
https://twitter.com/GaiaMafia/status/654727200776679424
https://twitter.com/jbritt5/status/654729584353476608
https://twitter.com/TheRealBepo/status/654727680126906369
However, the term “Shared Responsibility Payment” is nothing new. You can read all about it over at IRS.gov:
It will be interesting to see how much these penalties influence the Obamacare debate over the coming months.
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