Does Everyone Need To Get Health Insurance With Obamacare? 
Well , not really . As with so many other aspects of ObamaCare , there always seem to be exceptions . While in general terms , it is correct to state that the individual mandate is in effect , there were a number of exceptions written into the original law which werethen laterfurther supplemented by other `` hardship '' exemptions being added to the list . As such , there are government approved ways to avoid paying the individual mandate which is the penalty for not having compliant health insurance . Some of the exceptions are narrowly crafted , while others do n't require a lot of imagination as to how a lot of people could dodge the individual mandate penalty , especially with the relatively new hardship exemptions . -LRB- One of which is literally - Have you recently experienced the death of a close family member ? -RRB- I can see a new cottage industry around tax time as people claim one of the hardship exemptions every year . And then there are those like American Indian tribes and some religious sects and subscribers to a health care sharing ministry who are outright exempted from the law 's provisions . So , oddly enough , ObamaCare seems to be evolving into a bizarre state of undercutting the strength of the individual mandate which it maintained was key tothe program 's success . Do you really have to get ObamaCare ? No , you never did , you just faced the possibility of a penalty being withheld from a tax refund and it looks like the odds of avoiding even that penalty will be good for a sizable fraction of the penalty box population . 