Please help me understand what this means.

[jetdeck1102]

I am a 44 yo single mom. I am the manager of a small retail store where I am the only full time employee. The owner's have other full time professions which provides their health insurance. I personally pay $450 per month for BCBS, which just went up from $301 last month. My children are covered under CHIPS in PA.

What does all this mean to me?

When I hear that all uninsured Americans will be covered does that mean I should have stopped paying health insurance so I could become an uninsured American so that I would then be covered under Obamacare?

Are the owner's now responsible for my health insurance?

 

[Granny]

I'm not sure all this coverage is immediate. I think there are going to be taxes out the wazoo the next couple of years and then the coverage stuff starts in 2014.

My guess is that when all this goes into effect a lot more people are going to be losing their jobs. Employers cannot pay all this extra health insurance coverage, AND other benefits, AND raise salaries, AND pay unemployment insurance, AND workers comp insurance, AND business insurance, AND business licenses, AND, AND, AND .....

Something's going to have to give and I suspect it will be the employees. Companies only have so much money and when it ain't got it anymore ... it ain't got it. Period.

There are no free lunches.

 

[goldcatt]

Pre-existing conditons coverage and some of the other provisions start immediately, but the mandates, tax credits and other provisions don't kick in until I believe 2014.

And no, there is no public coverage in this bill. No public option is being offered, except what exists now there will be no government insurance at all. All it offers is subsidy for your premiums through a private insurance company like BCBS if you qualify, most of that in the form of tax credits.

If you drop your private coverage you will simply be uninsured.

 

[chanel]

I have a feeling that your 450 a month policy will no longer be considered a "qualified plan" Unless you have full coverage, you may be forced to purchase a more expensive one. Your employer won't have to pay if you are the only employee but the ramifications of higher taxes and the snowball effect on the economy could affect their business. I've heard some buzz about many small employers closing shop and retiring earlier than planned. I hope that doesn't happen in your neck of the woods.

 

[Ravi]

If I were you, I'd move to Canada immediately.