Uninsured? ObamaCare says pay up. Or, you can move to Guam.

Luckily, we’re here to read it for you.

We’ll Read the Bill, Part II: The Individual Mandate

You might have heard of the new surtax on high-income earners under the House Democrats’ version of ObamaCare. You might have even heard of the taxes on employers who don’t cover their employees. But you might not have heard yet about the tax that will be imposed on you if you remain uninsured.

Think of it as a “stick motivator,” as opposed to the “carrot motivators” (tax incentives, for example) that dominate health care today.

If you lack health insurance deemed acceptable under the House Democrats’ proposal, then you will owe an additional 2.5% of your taxable income to the IRS. This tax is regressive: It applies no matter how low your income is, and it is capped based on the annual cost of the average insurance premium.

If you get an ObamaCare-approved plan through your employer or through the state-run exchanges established under the bill, you won’t have to pay the tax. Presumably, you’ll have to provide proof of insurance to the IRS in order to avoid paying the extra tax. You’re also safe if you have grandfathered individual private health coverage, or coverage through a government agency — for example, Medicare, Medicaid, or the Veterans’ Administration.

Then there are the more interesting exemptions, which you can read for yourself in Section 59B. The exemption for non-resident aliens applies to illegal immigrants who pay taxes, provided they stay in the U.S. only 121 days out of the year, according to IRS guidelines. These and other non-resident aliens are exempt from the penalty, but U.S. citizens and permanent illegal immigrants are not.

As a U.S. citizen, the bill says that you can avoid the ObamaCare penalty tax by moving away and becoming an expatriate. You could also look into moving to a U.S. territory — if you live and work in Guam or Puerto Rico, for example, there will be no penalty for remaining uninsured.