While it was in effect, the penalty potentially cost a taxpayer thousands of dollars a year — though the ACA allowed numerous exemptions from coverage based on financial hardship and other personal circumstances. (Photo: Getty)

The elimination of the Affordable Care Act tax penalty on people who don't have health insurance could roll back recent coverage gains for Hispanics, young people, the healthy and the poor, according to a new study.

The study, published Monday in the journal Health Affairs, stems from a 2017 survey in which researchers at Harvard University Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital asked more than 3,000 Californians who had bought individual health care plans: “Would you have purchased health insurance coverage this year if there was no penalty?”

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