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01-08-2015 | Commentary

The Criminalization of Health Care

Author: Kimberly Collica-Cox

Published in: Society | Issue 4/2015

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Abstract

With the inception of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), colloquially known as ObamaCare, a new class of law breakers was established. Struggling Americans are penalized through fines, masked as taxes, imposed by the IRS, for failing to obtain health insurance. Although Americans cannot be imprisoned for falling to pay the tax, uninsured Americans can be classified as tax evaders, thus, imposing a negative label which serves to impact their financial future. Rather than helping Americans, this new law forces Americans to purchase health insurance and runs the risk of criminalizing them if they are unable to abide by the ACA mandate, creating the Iniquitous Ills, our newest class of tax evading offenders.

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Title: The Criminalization of Health Care
Author: Kimberly Collica-Cox
Publication date: 01-08-2015
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Society / Issue 4/2015
Print ISSN: 0147-2011
Electronic ISSN: 1936-4725
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-015-9906-2

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