Is It A Law That You Have To Have Health Insurance? 
The Patient Portability and Affordable Care Act -LRB- PPACA -RRB- commonly known as Obamacare is not a law that you have to have health insurance . It does require insurance companies to allow you to join an insurance plan regardless of your past health history . This would be extremely expensive for the insurance companies if only sick people joined the plans and healthy people did not . Because of this , a tax was set up to encourage everyone to join a plan . If you do not sign up for a health plan by March 31 , then you will owe a tax on your income tax next year equal to 1 % of your income or $ 95 dollars , whichever is more . More importantly though , if you do not sign up for health insurance , you wo n't have health insurance . Even the healthiest person could contract an illness or injury and need medical care . With medical expenses getting higher every year , paying a few hundred dollars each month to ensure that you wo n't have to pay thousands unexpectedly is a good trade off . The deadline is approaching quickly , so please contact a local broker and sign up for health insurance . 