In another recent post on this forum someone brought up whether or not traffic offences need to be declared or not, and mentioned that minor "fixed-penalty" ones don't count but more major ones do. Driving without car insurance falls in the latter category as someone said.
That might lead to some questions in the future on here whether not having health insurance under Obamacare (while living in the US) would qualify as an offence or not. The answer is a resounding NO, it would not count anymore than not having a home with a mortgage or not doing anything eligible for a tax credit would. The media likes to tell us it's a "mandate" but the reason it was upheld is because it's not a crime to go without health insurance, but rather the government is levying a penalty that essentially works like a tax on those who can afford health insurance but choose to go without (as an alternative to make sure everyone pays a "fair share" so healthy people aren't "freeloaders" on those who are sicker, as how most other developed countries' healthcare systems work). As Chief Justice Roberts hinted to, if it were actually an offence to go without health insurance that would be unconstitutional.
I know this is mainly a hypothetical comment, but since many of us are worried about omitting any detail that may be used against them in the visa application, I thought I'd clarify that despite many proclaiming Obamacare as a "requirement" to have health insurance, it's no more of a mandate than doing anything else that lowers your taxes - and certainly not an "offence" that would need to be declared on something like a visa application.
