What is the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision? The provision requires that every citizen of the United States, except those falling within specified exceptions, acquire and maintain a minimum level of health care coverage. Exceptions include those exercising religious conscience, those who cannot afford coverage, and those who, by reason of low income, do not file taxes. Failure to obtain minimum coverage by anyone else will result in a tax penalty. ACA proponents stress that this provision is important to the overall legislation, mainly for financial reasons. One section of the ACA requires insurers to provide coverage for people with preexisting conditions. This mandate will likely increase costs to health care insurers because they will be providing coverage to more sick people, thus driving up costs for everyone. Mandating that everyone take part in health insurance will widen the pool; more healthy people will be paying premiums while needing little medical care, thus counterbalancing the cost to insurers of covering sick people. Moreover, requiring everyone to purchase health insurance might reduce the total costs of treatment for patients with preexisting conditions by providing them access to care earlier in the development of those conditions, as well as preventing free riders, those who join up last-minute and receive care but have paid little or nothing into the health plan. For reasons such as these, ACA proponents insist that the minimum essential coverage provision is not only appropriate but also crucial to fulfilling the greater purposes of the act.