About 0.04 percent of Americans want an individual mandate exemption

About 77,000 families and individuals have applied for exemptions from Obamacare's individual mandate, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

That likely works out to somewhere between 0.02 and 0.04 percent of the total population, depending on how many families are seeking exemptions – and how many people those families include.

The individual mandate has long been the least popular part of the Affordable Care Act, with many health law opponents protesting the requirement to carry coverage. The health care law includes exemptions to the individual mandate for certain people, including those who can't find an affordable plan or have a religious objection to carrying coverage.

But even though the mandate isn't popular, applications for an opt-out have come in at a trickle. The number could rise, though, as Americans get closer to filing taxes next spring – the point when they'll either have to show proof of insurance coverage, proof of an exemption or pay a penalty for not carrying coverage.

The White House previously projected that 12 million people would seek exemptions from the mandate in 2016.

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