Obamacare / Affordable Care Act : classic or dud?

‘People Are Going To Be In For A Shock': Penalty For Uninsured Not Signing Up For Obamacare To More Than Triple

i guess i better try to sign up again, sigh

americans are too stupid to understand? go get 'em, megyn!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hcu1S2GKf0

well, the NYS site's better than last year, but still really slow and complicated as hell

...and at 1 am in the morning, the website goes down for maintenance until 8am. this has happened to me at least a half dozen times over the last month. Also everytime this happens, you have to start the whole damn application over again, though it at least saves most of the information you put in. Sigh.

What's everybody doing? I've been on Freelancers Union w/ Freelancer Medical since the beginning of both but am NOT down with zero coverage for specialists until deductible is met. Is there another thread for this? We all need to decide RIGHT NOW.

in NYS; use the exchange/nystateofhealth. just downgraded my play from 480-something no deductable to 430 something w 2K deductable now that my previous plan significantly broke the 500.00 barrier. there's something morally wrong to me about having to freelance one day a month just for insurance. will chime back in if I'm reminded w/ who I changed to. Did the whole thing in about 45 min the other day at 8 PM

freelancers' union always seemed like garbage to me btw

i went with the cheapest possible plan I could get from Health Republic NY through the exchange site, mostly because Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield totally burned me last year

it'll be kind of annoying to pay the ~$150 per month but that's better than nothing in the case of catastrophe. pretty good chunk of my income though - it's kind of unfortunate to be not eligible for medicare but not easily afford decent insurance. lots of others in much worse situations than me, though; at least i don't have currently have any crazy medical bills.

jimmy-which plan did you choose? that is the question.

I have trouble with the exchange/subsidies because my income varies wildly from year to year. If I got subsidized based on my income from last year, I would definitely have to pay that money back based on my income in the upcoming year.

When I joined freelancers union, it was the only option for freelancers to get their own insurance that didn't cost 800+. There was like one other thing, Fractured Atlas, which wasn't ideal either.

I'm used to paying 350+/mo for healthcare and have no expectation of not paying that much or more, I have enough doctors that I need normal healthcare and not a catastrophic plan.

how tf is 480 dollars a month "affordable"

or 350 for that matter

Even with good health insurance, we were sort of forced to make all sorts of decisions this year in terms of coverage. Same with my mother in law, who is a lifetime government employee with great insurance whose options often nonetheless made so little sense. For example, one of her options covered gender reassignment surgery, but not foot surgery to remove bunions. Just perplexing nickel and diming.

NEW: Metro Plus: GoldPlus-G2, NS, INN, Dep25, Pediatric and Adult Dental, Adult and Pediatric Vision. deductable is something like 2K, which is manageable

Previous was metroplus platinum w/ the works; no deductable

See, the thing is that afaict you can't get a comprehensive adult plan (w/ both dental; vision) w/o getting one that also offers pediatric, which seems like a pretty obvious attempt to assfuck a consumer. I was looking @ oscar bc they seem competitive and nimble (i may have fallen victim to advertising) but they offer neither dental nor vision. NYSHealth offers a la carte dental/vis plans but that sums to more than an all in one pkg.

also hi tracer 480 isn't affordable but here we are

we can't all be living your life w your beautiful family in a foreign land :D

you're all invited btw

here's how much the entire NHS costs per capita per year
http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/data-and-charts/health-care-spending-person-uk

that's about 260 dollars a month, everything included (no vision) (bad dental, naturally) and no deductible.

just in case anyone thinks it's "free"

well we will all be dead soon here so it doesn't really matter and u cant take it w u

Things are relative. A few years ago if you were self-employed and needed healthcare, most options cost more than 800 dollars a month. Thus options that cost 400 or less are affordable. And when you need insurance and you factor that expense into your cost of living in america, you quickly become accustomed to the fact that you're going to be spending 3 or 400 a month on insurance. Now there's lots of options in that range. There used to be two. All the options suck, but I have no choice.

For what its worth, when you get it as a benefit through a company, you're putting money in and they're putting money in. You just don't feel it the same.

anyway I hope I was useful 4 u dan. nb I also went to the dr one time in my first year under obama's doctrine so that dr visit cost me 5.7K dollars

That's insurance, no big deal.

I feel like people are spoiled if they're coming from jobs...or have never had insurance before. I will repeat, before ACA, getting decent healthcare in New York cost 800 bucks and did not include dental or eyes or any of that shit.

Paying 480/mo for a 2000 deductible and getting dental and optical is a GOOD DEAL. It sucks, but that's AMERICA. Not to be captain obvious, but that 5.7k was for insurance, not just 1 dr visit, and if you go to the doctor once a year, pay the fine and pay the doctor out of your pocket. If you want insurance, it's gonna cost.

guys do be careful when enrolling for obamacare, i read recently that more than 700 fake websites have been created to defraud folks. apparently you can tell which sites are a bunch of baloney because they are easy to log on to!

make sure that you start out at healthcare.gov instead of healthfraud.xxx

lol on hold for an hour and as soon as i hear a dial tone the call ends. waited twice as long a couple nights ago only to connect to someone who seemed to have no idea what he was doing

how is this worse than before

For what its worth, when you get it as a benefit through a company, you're putting money in and they're putting money in. You just don't feel it the same.

I have never had health insurance through a job. At one point, when I was in my early 30s, I was paying like $700/mo. Now I'm at a "manageable" $470/mo. I was afraid I was gonna start getting reamed this year, having turned 40, but no.

I have trouble with the exchange/subsidies because my income varies wildly from year to year. If I got subsidized based on my income from last year, I would definitely have to pay that money back based on my income in the upcoming year.

Are you mostly/entirely self-employed?

I hassled my daughter into finally checking the ACA website and it looks like she's eligible for huge tax credits that will completely cover the cost of her coverage.

I am sometimes/mostly/entirely self-employed but occasionally hourly w4 employee and sometimes 1099 contractor and sometimes not making any money and sometimes making a normal amount of money.

I do have some family members that are in this middle class suck hole, where the cheapest thing they can get are plans with shit deductables and $800/month premiums for the three of them, which is allegedly three times what they were paying a few years ago. i feel for them but still.

I am sometimes/mostly/entirely self-employed but occasionally hourly w4 employee and sometimes 1099 contractor and sometimes not making any money and sometimes making a normal amount of money.

It makes it really convoluted -- because they base the subsidy/credit on some modified AGI, so it would be your net profit from self-employment/1099s, so in addition to timing expenses to reduce self-employment tax, you would also be doing it for the ACA subsidy/credit.

classic url here:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/scotus-king-obamacare-workarounds-doomed

"We're quite pessimistic. The operational, legal and political challenges here are immense," Nicholas Bagley, a University of Michigan law professor who co-authored the article, told TPM in a phone interview on Thursday. "The more I've looked at this, the more alarmed I've grown."

The problem is three-pronged: Legal, because the Affordable Care Act sets some very specific requirements for state-based exchanges; practical, because states might not have time or authority to act after the Court ruling comes down in June, as expected; and political, because Republican intransigence against Obamacare is currently one of the defining elements of American politics.

An adverse Court ruling in the King vs. Burwell case would invalidate the law's tax credits, received by nearly 90 percent of Obamacare enrollees in 2014, in at least 34 states that are using the federal website. Health coverage would likely then become unaffordable for many enrollees, and those who choose to keep paying the higher price are more likely to be sick and more costly, potentially sending the law into a dreaded death spiral.

praise jesus

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-cut-and-pasted-their-new-obamacare-alternative/2015/02/06/def0d0a0-ae57-11e4-9c91-e9d2f9fde644_story.html

let it be easier once again for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than it is for a poor american to afford health care, the lazy bums!

Still stuck in "verify identity" hell. =( I think I have tried signing up 10+ times now.

I can now fully apply and then get to the "Sign & Verify" page and then it says "We will get back to you when we verify your identity". On the front page there is a little "Identity Verified" thing next to my name, yet it will not let me complete an application =(

My daughter makes so little in her shitty dollar-store job that she'll qualify for subsidies that pretty much cover her entire policy, if she'll only finish the fucking signup procedure. I don't believe she's finished yet, and I've reminded and nagged her all I'm going to. If she lets this deadline pass and pays a couple grand unnecessarily out of pure willful stubbornness, I'm going to be pissed. But it's her money.

If you fail to sign up for medical insurance it's not just a matter of going uncovered now. There is a minimum tax penalty of (iirc) several hundred dollars that you'll pay for the privilege of having no insurance.

Yeah that is like a nice kick in the nuts. Not only can I not get signed up for reasons nobody I talk to seems to know, I am going to have to pay a penalty because this shit still doesn't work.

The fee in 2015

If you don’t have coverage in 2015, you’ll pay the higher of these two amounts:

2% of your yearly household income. (Only the amount of income above the tax filing threshold, about $10,000 for an individual, is used to calculate the penalty.) The maximum penalty is the national average premium for a bronze plan.
$325 per person for the year ($162.50 per child under 18). The maximum penalty per family using this method is $975.
The fee for not having coverage in 2014

If you didn’t have coverage in 2014, you’ll pay the higher of these two amounts when you file your 2014 federal tax return:

1% of your yearly household income. (Only the amount of income above the tax filing threshold, about $10,000 for an individual, is used to calculate the penalty.) The maximum penalty is the national average premium for a bronze plan.

$95 per person for the year ($47.50 per child under 18). The maximum penalty per family using this method is $285.

The fee after 2015

The penalty increases every year. In 2016 it’s 2.5% of income or $695 per person. After that it's adjusted for inflation.

Looks like I need to just move to another damn country.

Is there anyone on this board who has successfully signed up and never owned a credit card? Cos I feel like that is the main thing holding me back and I refuse to participate in the credit card system.

Use a human insurance agent who is certified to assist people in signing up through healthcare.gov and let them wrestle with the shitty software for you. I'm guessing they should be able to use a paperwork back door of some sort.

Hah yeah I've been through 3 people via that route. Acted surprised and bewildered, then told me I should really just go on the site cos they logged in as me and see all these cool plans.

I guess I could give it another shot.

yes. shooting them might help.

If you fail to sign up for medical insurance it's not just a matter of going uncovered now. There is a minimum tax penalty of (iirc) several hundred dollars that you'll pay for the privilege of having no insurance.

― Aimless, Saturday, February 14, 2015 9:23 AM (3 hours ago)

in the case of William's daughter, she might qualify for a low income/affordability exemption

Also, I believe you could add her to your plan, (depending on her age) and there would just be a few extra forms to fill out at tax time if she files her own tax return and is not your dependent.

She's 26, past the cutoff for being added to my insurance. She has health insurance and pays for it herself so she won't get hit with the tax penalty, I'm just cranky at her for not taking advantage of the ACA. She definitely qualifies for the low-income subsidy. She's done all the math, I just don't think she's finished the signup procedure. Maybe she's psychic and knows King vs. Burwell is going to go badly.

I was irritated that this year, the tax credit only applies to people that purchased insurance through the marketplace, as opposed to people that got policies by other means, which means I lose out.

Ok gonna give it ONE MORE TRY.