Can You Opt Out Of Health Insurance? 
If you are lucky enough to work for an employer who pays 100 % of the employee rate for the group health insurance they offer -LRB- pretty rare these days -RRB- then standard group contracts require all eligible employees to be enrolled . So , in that circumstance you might get health insurance coverage whether you want it or not . If you have to contribute towards the cost of the health insurance provided by your employer then you have the right to waive participating in your employer 's group health plan . I will presume , though , that your question is really about the `` Individual Mandate '' provision of the Affordable Care Act -LRB- ObamaCare -RRB- and its requirement starting on January 1 , 2014 that a person have health insurance coverage that meets the minimum essential benefit requirements under the law or be subject to the `` Shared Responsibility Payment '' -LRB- does n't that sound better than tax penalty ? -RRB- on your income taxes . ObamaCare does give you the choice of either getting health insurance coverage or going without coverage and potentially being subject to a tax penalty . In that sense you can opt out of having health insurance coverage . But wait there 's more ! The Affordable Care Act provides for persons in certain situations or who are members of certain groups to be exempt from the individual mandate requirement . Some examples are ; 1 -RRB- If the cost of coverage for you is more than 8 % of your annual household income 2 -RRB- If your annual income is below the threshold where you have to file personal income taxes 3 -RRB- If you qualify for a `` hardship '' exemption -LRB- this can be an escape route for many people -RRB- 4 -RRB- If you have had a gap in being covered of less than 3 months during the tax year 5 -RRB- Members of religious groups that object to coverage on religious grounds 6 -RRB- Members of non-profit religious organizations where members share costs 7 -RRB- Prison inmates 8 -RRB- Non U.S. citizens 9 -RRB- Native American tribe members 10 -RRB- Year long residents of U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam What could be more simple ? I hope this helps answer your question . 