Obamacare penalty/fee/tax

     The penalty for not having health insurance is not due to be put into effect till 2014.  People who do not have health insurance in 2013 will not have to worry about it.  (They may worry about the cost of medical care, but not about being penalized for not being insured.)
     Once the penalty goes into effect, it appears, from what I can see, that it will not actually be payable until the person files his or her 2014 tax return in 2015.
     At that point the IRS has been given limited powers to collect it.  Tax liens and seizing of property will not be allowed.  However, the IRS will have some powers and will probably find a way.
     For 2014 the minimum penalty will be $95 per person.  For a family of three, the minimum will be $95 X 3 = $285.  For families with more than three members, the minimum is frozen at $285.  (They stop counting after the third family member.)
     The maximum amount of the penalty will be determined by a percentage of taxable income.  For 2014 it will be 1%.  When it is fully phased in starting in 2016, it will be 2.5%.
     But that maximum will not be allowed to go higher than the national average of low-cost plans being offered through the insurance exchanges that will be set up by the law.