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In Islam, for example, conventional insurance is usually considered haraam (forbidden).

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more popularly known as Obamacare, those who fail to have "minimum essential coverage" must pay a penalty (Ch. 48). There is however a "Religious Exemption":

RELIGIOUS CONSCIENCE EXEMPTION.—Such term shall not include any individual for any month if such individual has in effect an exemption under section 1311(d)(4)(H) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which certifies that such individual is a member of a recognized religious sect or division thereof described in section 1402(g)(1) and an adherent of established tenets or teachings of such sect or division as described in such section.

My question is this: Which religious groups have actually made use of the above exemption? In particular, have large numbers of Muslims made use of it?

P.S. It appears that there was some viral email expressing outrage over this exemption. Snopes has a good article on this, but it is dated and debunks only the claim in that email that there is a "Dhimmitude" clause. It does not say whether Muslims are exempt.

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  • @JasonAller: Agreed. How do I migrate this over?
    – user2212
    Aug 21, 2015 at 0:32
  • I'd like to point out that Islam is only adhered to by 0.9% of the population.
    – PointlessSpike
    Aug 21, 2015 at 12:37
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    @PointlessSpike: True, but 0.9% of the USA is about 3 million people. Then there are also religious groups besides Muslims who might make use of this exemption.
    – user2212
    Aug 22, 2015 at 2:02
  • The clause is for individuals--not groups.
    – user1530
    Aug 22, 2015 at 23:12

1 Answer 1

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Usually, and most likely in this case too, these exceptions are for the Amish and Mennonites.

Most Muslims, as far as I know, do not use the religious exemption.

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    Nice first answer, but it would be a lot stronger if you could find some citations for those claims.
    – divibisan
    Apr 16, 2019 at 14:58

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