The Affordable Care Act is in effect, but 30 million people remain uninsured.

According to the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation, approximately 90 percent of the 30 million uninsured won't pay a tax penalty for not carrying insurance, due to one or more exemptions.

The amount of the penalty fee depends on a person's income. The Internal Revenue Service announced the penalty is 1 percent of taxable income, up to $2,448 for an individual making $244,800. The penalty for families with five or more members maxes out at $12,240 for those making a combined income of $1.2 million. People who have an income of less than $19,650 are fined a flat fee of $95 per year. There is no penalty for people with incomes lower than $10,150.

In 2015, the penalties are set to increase to $325, or 2 percent of income. By 2016, the penalties will increase to $695, or 2.5 percent of income.

The Obama administration provided 14 exemptions for individuals or groups to avoid paying the penalty. The exemptions include if an individual encountered domestic violence, fire or flood damage to property, is a recipient of a canceled insurance plan, is an undocumented immigrant, a member of Native American tribes and certain religious organizations. Another exemption from the ACA's penalty is if the lowest-priced coverage available costs more than 8 percent of the person's income.

For 2016, the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation projects four million people will need to pay the penalty. The projection is a decrease from early estimates of six million. A reason for the low number of Americans paying the fine is due to 21 states not expanding their Medicaid insurance programs for low-income earners as required by the ACA. As a result, Americans in those 21 states could be exempt from the penalty.

In order to not pay the ACA's penalty, people have to apply for specific forms available on HealthCare.gov.

The Wall Street Journal noted 77,000 individuals and families requested exemption as of April. The number of exemptions is expected to rise as tax returns are filed next year. According to the Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), an exemption application will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

"The Affordable Care Act requires people who can afford insurance to buy it, so that their medical bills are not passed onto the rest of us, which drives up health care costs for everyone. The law allows individuals who are facing hardship to apply for an exception," said a CMS spokesman, adding that the case-by-case reviews will allow individuals to access "catastrophic-level plans."

The ACA provides approximately 10.2 million uninsured Latinos with health insurance coverage. The HHS noted 8.1 million of the eligible uninsured Latinos may qualify for either tax credits to purchase insurance coverage in the Health Insurance Marketplace, Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

"If all states were to expand Medicaid, 95 percent of all eligible uninsured Latinos would be eligible for Marketplace tax credits, Medicaid or CHIP," the HHS' Emily Gee noted.

The states with the largest uninsured Latino population, as of February, are California (2.8 million), Texas (2.5 million), Florida (1.1 million), New York (0.5 million) and Arizona (0.4 million).

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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