202.1 An individual shall be exempt from the District shared responsibility payment for a month in which the Authority determines that individual has suffered a hardship with respect to the ability to obtain coverage under a qualified health plan.

202.2 The Authority shall grant a hardship exemption if it determines any of the following based on the information submitted on the hardship application published by the Authority:

1. (a) The applicant has experienced financial or domestic circumstances, including an unexpected natural or human-caused event, resulting in a significant, unexpected increase in essential expenses that prevented the applicant from obtaining coverage under a qualified health plan;
2. (b) The expense of purchasing a qualified health plan would have caused the applicant to experience serious deprivation of food, shelter, clothing or other necessities; or
3. (c) Another circumstance prevented the applicant from obtaining coverage under a qualified health plan.

202.3 Each hardship exemption shall be granted for at least the month before, the month or months during, and the month after a specific event or circumstances that qualified the individual for the exemption. A single approval shall not span more than one taxable year. Instead, an individual may submit separate applications for separate taxable years pursuant to § 230.2.

SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 67 DCR 1234 (February 7, 2020).