Almost half of uninsured still don't know they owe an ObamaCare penalty

As of Dec. 2014, 25 percent of uninsured Americans above the poverty line said they’d heard “nothing at all” about the fine. Another 20 percent said they had heard “only a little.” A slight majority, 53 percent, reported hearing some or a lot about the tax (which the Obama administration calls the “individual shared responsibility payment”).

Americans who were uninsured last year will have to pay the penalty for the first time this tax season. The penalty for going uninsured in 2014 was $95 or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater — but this year, that penalty has grown to $325 or 2 percent of income.

Although Obamacare, and especially the individual mandate, has topped headlines for years, the law’s advocates have struggled to reach all of those affected by the penalty. The ongoing lack of awareness has already prompted a group of congressional Democrats to urge the Obama administration to re-open Obamacare enrollment around the tax filing deadline in April, when more people will find out that they owe money.