Final answer:
The requirement that people obtain health insurance or pay a penalty is part of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The mandate was upheld by the Supreme Court as a tax and aimed to reduce the uninsured population by incentivizing individuals to obtain health coverage. Correct answer is (A)
Step-by-step explanation:
The Individual Mandate Provision of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
The individual mandate provision of the 2010 U.S. healthcare reform, known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare, required that all Americans either have health insurance or pay a penalty. This mandate was designed to expand coverage and ensure that healthier individuals, who might otherwise forgo insurance, contribute to the insurance pool, thus stabilizing premiums for everyone. The ACA implemented several measures to increase health insurance coverage, including creating insurance marketplaces, providing subsidies to make insurance more affordable, and extending Medicaid eligibility.
The ACA's individual mandate has faced significant opposition and legal challenges over the years. Critics argued that it infringed on individual freedom of choice. Despite the controversies, it was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 as a constitutional exercise of Congress's taxing power. However, the tax penalty associated with the individual mandate was reduced to $0 by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, effectively eliminating the mandate's enforcement mechanism.