Surprising Results From The Intuit TurboTax Health Survey By Harris Poll

Harris Poll recently conducted the Intuit TurboTax Health Survey, designed to gauge respondents’ knowledge of Obamacare taxes as they relate to their taxes. Unfortunately, the poll revealed that just under 50% of Americans don’t realize they need to report their health insurance coverage status on their 2014 tax returns.

Over 2,000 adults in the United States over 18 years of age were questioned. The poll showed just how many people still don’t know how Obamacare and their health insurance relates to their taxes.

Barack Obama signing the Patient Protection an...
Barack Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the White House (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For 2015 and beyond, the Affordable Care Act requires that Americans prove they hold qualifying health insurance while filing their 2014 taxes. Those without proof of coverage will face a tax penalty of varying amounts. A majority of uninsured Americans (62%) know about this penalty for lacking coverage. However, 87% don’t realize the deadline to avoid the penalty has already passed. If coverage is purchased during the current open enrollment period, then coverage applies to returns filed by April 2016 for 2015 taxes.

Plus, 56% of respondents didn’t know about potential exemptions from the Affordable Care Act’s tax penalty that are available. 45% of Americans don’t even know about the premium tax credits available to lower the cost of health insurance for low-income families. Even moderate-income families can qualify for partial discounts.

The nation’s leader in online tax preparation, TurboTax, has created a resource for Americans to understand the details of Obamacare. Users can access for TurboTaxHealth.com for more information. Through TurboTax Health, users can determine their eligibility for low-cost health coverage or determine their tax penalties if they lack coverage. Also, the site features TurboTax 2014 Exemption Check, which tells users if they qualify for exemption from the Affordable Care Act penalty. They can then apply for the exemption.

About 90% of all Americans have health insurance now. In the South, only 85% of people have coveraged, compared to 94% in the Northeast, and over 90% in the West and Midwest. Over 75% of people plan to continue the coverage they acquired from the Marketplaces the previous year. On top of that, early enrollees during the first open enrollment tend to know far more about the Affordable Care Act and its requirements. Individuals under a parent’s coverage tend to be less aware of penalties compared to those with coverage from an employer.

This particular survey was conduced by Harris Poll online within the United States. The survey was conducted for TurboTax from November 6 to 10 and November 13-17. In the survey, over 2,000 adults were surveyed both times. No probability sample was used, so now sampling error is available.