Obamacare premiums too high? Earn less money!

[Quantum Windbag]

I wish I was making this up.

By the way, this is a pro Obamacare article in a pro Obamacare paper, so don't try to blame the Republicans.

People whose 2014 income will be a little too high to get subsidized health insurance from Covered California next year should start thinking now about ways to lower it to increase their odds of getting the valuable tax subsidy.
"If they can adjust (their income), they should," says Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow with the Kaiser Family Foundation. "It's not cheating, it's allowed."
Under the Affordable Care Act, if your 2014 income is between 138 and 400 percent of poverty level for your household size, you can purchase health insurance on a state-run exchange (such as Covered California) and receive a federal tax subsidy to offset all or part of your premium.

I really love this part, young people aren't the only people getting screwed.

Take, for example, Jacqueline Proctor of San Francisco. She and her husband are in their early 60s. They have been paying $7,200 a year for a bare-bones Kaiser Permanente health plan with a $5,000 per person annual deductible. "Kaiser told us the plan does not comply with Obamacare and the substitute will cost more than twice as much," about $15,000 per year, she says.
This new plan, Kaiser's cheapest offering for 2014, would consume about 25 percent of their after-tax income. The new plan still has a $5,000 deductible but provides coverage for things her current policy does not, such as maternity care, healthy child visits and coverage for dependents up to age 26. Proctor has no use for such coverage, since her son is 30.

Did anyone notice that Kaiser is the one that is insisting that their premiums are doubling?

Lower 2014 income can net huge health care subsidy - SFGate

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - Obamacare gonna send ever'body to the poorhouse...

Poll: Many Still Struggle to Pay Health Premiums
June 19, 2014 - WASHINGTON (AP) — Most people who signed up under President Barack Obama's health care law rate their new insurance highly, but a substantial number are struggling with the cost, according to a poll released Thursday.

The survey from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation provides findings that both sides in the health care debate can seize on. It's an ambitious look at people who buy their coverage individually; they're the ones most affected by the Affordable Care Act. "The critics' view of the law as an unmitigated disaster is far from true, but it's not what advocates might have hoped for either because many people still have concerns about affordability," said Drew Altman, CEO of the foundation, an information clearinghouse about the health care system. The poll found that Obama's law is achieving one of its main goals by covering the uninsured. Fifty-seven percent of the 8 million people who bought a plan through the new insurance exchanges were previously uninsured.

But greater access to coverage has come at a price that's uncomfortably steep for many. Despite the availability of generous subsidies, 4 in 10 of those who bought a plan that meets the law's specifications said they had difficulty paying their monthly premiums. That's a sobering reality check on assertions by the Obama administration that coverage is readily affordable. Overall, employer coverage got much better ratings in the poll than did health law plans, which are meant for self-employed people and workers without access through their jobs.

The survey looked at several groups of people in the individual health care market:

—those who bought plans in the new insurance exchanges.

—those who bought plans outside the exchanges that nonetheless complied with the law's specifications.

—people who switched from previous coverage, either because it was canceled or they found a better deal.

—those who were able to keep the plan that they had before.

Since just the start of this year, the health law has come to dominate the individual insurance market. The poll found that 68 percent of people purchasing their own coverage are enrolled in plans that comply with the law's standards. But those same consumers are divided about the law's impact. Roughly similar shares say have benefited (34 percent) as report being negatively affected (29 percent).

Among other findings:

 

[Mr. H.]

"It's not cheating, it's allowed."

Since 2008, Americans have been given much more incentive NOT to work than to... work.

 

[jillian]

nonsense

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

nonsense

Yeah...obamacare is nonsense alright. Glad to see you're finally coming around.

 

[Rozman]

So I guess the directive from the democrat party is....
Better to be an underachiever....otherwise you lose out on the perks.

 

[jon_berzerk]

I wish I was making this up.

By the way, this is a pro Obamacare article in a pro Obamacare paper, so don't try to blame the Republicans.

People whose 2014 income will be a little too high to get subsidized health insurance from Covered California next year should start thinking now about ways to lower it to increase their odds of getting the valuable tax subsidy.
"If they can adjust (their income), they should," says Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow with the Kaiser Family Foundation. "It's not cheating, it's allowed."
Under the Affordable Care Act, if your 2014 income is between 138 and 400 percent of poverty level for your household size, you can purchase health insurance on a state-run exchange (such as Covered California) and receive a federal tax subsidy to offset all or part of your premium.

I really love this part, young people aren't the only people getting screwed.

Take, for example, Jacqueline Proctor of San Francisco. She and her husband are in their early 60s. They have been paying $7,200 a year for a bare-bones Kaiser Permanente health plan with a $5,000 per person annual deductible. "Kaiser told us the plan does not comply with Obamacare and the substitute will cost more than twice as much," about $15,000 per year, she says.
This new plan, Kaiser's cheapest offering for 2014, would consume about 25 percent of their after-tax income. The new plan still has a $5,000 deductible but provides coverage for things her current policy does not, such as maternity care, healthy child visits and coverage for dependents up to age 26. Proctor has no use for such coverage, since her son is 30.

Did anyone notice that Kaiser is the one that is insisting that their premiums are doubling?

Lower 2014 income can net huge health care subsidy - SFGate

true everything this admin is about

is rewarding under achievement

 

[Howey]

Yeah. Its not like we don't do things to save money. Remember that when you file taxes next year. You don't need those darn exemptions!