Why Are So Many People in Maine Paying the Obamacare Penalty for Lacking Insurance?

Maine has one of the highest rates of health insurance in the nation, with only about 7 percent of the population lacking coverage. But at the same time, many Mainers have paid the federal tax penalty, established under the “individual mandate” provision of the Affordable Care Act, for having no insurance.

 

According to IRS data, more than 34,000 Maine tax filers paid nearly $15.5 million in the ACA tax penalty in 2015, the most recent year for which the data are available. That’s about 5.25 percent of all tax filers in the state that year, a high share compared to other states.

 

Nationwide, 4.5 percent of all tax filers paid the penalty in 2015, according to a recent report in the New York Times.

 

Most states with large percentages of residents paying the ACA penalty, such as Texas, Alaska and Florida, also have high percentages of uninsured residents, which stands to reason.

 

But Maine, where comparatively few lack insurance, is an outlier.