If you didn’t have health care coverage last year, you may qualify for an exemption. Among the exemptions: people who went without insurance for a period of less than 3 months, people for whom health coverage is unaffordable, those with a household income below the thresholds for filing a return, and folks who can show hardship forced them to go without coverage. People seeking one of the hardship exemptions must submit a multi-page application plus any required documentation to the exchange before filing their tax returns.