CBO: 6 million to pay ACA individual mandate tax in 2016

A new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that 6 million American will pay a penalty in 2016 for not purchasing insurance under the Affordable Care Act, an increase of 2 million over previous estimates (Source: "6 million projected to owe health-care tax in 2016," Reuters via Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 20, 2012).

According to the CBO report, the revised estimate takes into account that some states will likely not expand Medicaid eligibility under the ACA, leaving lower-income residents to purchase their own coverage. Another factor in the upward revision is the slow economic recovery.

Beginning in 2014, the ACA requires most legal residents of the United States to either obtain health insurance or pay a penalty tax. By 2016, the penalty will rise to either $695 per person or 2.5 percent of household income, whichever is greater.