Orlando Sentinel: Obamacare insurance could cost as little as $100 a month

[flpoljunkie]

Obamacare insurance could cost as little as $100 a month

By Scott Powers, Staff Writer
8:42 p.m. EDT, September 17, 2013

Roughly half of uninsured Floridians should be able to buy health insurance coverage for about $100 a month when they start signing up for Obamacare next month, a new federal report says.

There are an estimated 3.5 million uninsured Floridians, and most of them will be required to buy coverage through the federal health-insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. About 3.2 million of them are eligible for income-based federal subsidies to help them buy policies.

Failure to purchase insurance will result in a first-year tax of $95, which will go up in later years. The marketplace opens Oct. 1, and people must enroll in a health insurance plan by Dec. 15 to be eligible for coverage by the Jan. 1 deadline.

Just two weeks before the marketplace opens, there still are no firm numbers for Florida on what the various health care plans might cost or how much the federal tax subsidies might cover.

But a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicates that 53 percent of the 3.2 million uninsured individuals and families who are eligible for subsidies should qualify for enough help to keep their premiums at or below $100 a month.

more...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-obamacare-costs-study-20130917,0,3052744.story

[Demo_Chris]

1. So IF they can actually get a maximum subsidy....

And IF they can find one of these as yet nonexistent plans...

A family of three living in poverty will ONLY be forced by law to pony up $3600 a year for a worthless 'insurance' plan with a monstrous co pay and deductible. And while today the fine for failing to comply is only a few hundred a year, which they do not have, given time there is no reason to believe that it won't skyrocket.

Obamacare is going to be the death of our party. It is a betrayal of everything we profess to believe.

[Hoyt]

2. I think it's a monstrous improvement over what we had before, Hilliary Care, etc.

Clearly it has to be modified and continue progressing toward single payer (or a public option at minimum).

[Demo_Chris]

3. For my family it's worse...

I cannot afford insurance, and now my own party wants to fine me for being poor.

Sounds like a great deal, doesn't it.

[Hoyt]

6. Have you checked into subsidies, or availability of Medicaid if you are really low income?

[Demo_Chris]

18. Somewhat. The programs that exist are not easy to actually get...

It's not as if just being poor were enough. Just because you might qualify for something doesn't mean you automatically receive it -- and certainly not Medicaid. This rule applies to all federal and state programs, but even more so with healthcare stuff.

So now we have this... articles talking about how it is possible that maybe, somehow, on some magical exchanges that do not exist, policies might one day be offered that cost 'only' a hundred per person per month. These non-existent plans will, of course, come with co-pays and deductibles that render them useless to the people who need them, but apparently that's okay. The IMPORTANT thing is that Obama gets to claim victory and the insurance companies receive guaranteed profits forever. Every American, as the price of citizenship, MUST purchase or they are breaking the law.

With this bullshit my party has decided that the solution to unaffordable healthcare is to fine me for being poor.

[Hoyt]

19. Obamacare has not kicked in, and it sounds like you won't have to pay penalties. See poster below.

Obamacare is going to help a lot of people. I bet it will help you as well, if you let it.

[flpoljunkie]

12. Who doesn't have to pay the fee

Who doesn't have to pay the fee

Uninsured people won't have to pay a fee if they:

are uninsured for less than 3 months of the year
are determined to have very low income and coverage is considered unaffordable
are not required to file a tax return because their income is too low
would qualify under the new income limits for Medicaid, but their state has chosen not to expand Medicaid eligibility
are a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe
participate in a health care sharing ministry
are a member of a recognized religious sect with religious objections to health insurance
If you don't qualify for these situations, you can apply for an exemption asking not to pay a fee. You do this in the Marketplace.

https://www.healthcare.gov/what-if-someone-doesnt-have-health-coverage-in-2014/

[flpoljunkie]

13. More on exemptions...

People for whom health insurance is considered unaffordable (where insurance premiums after employer contributions and federal subsidies exceed 8% of family income).

http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-mandate-exemption-penalty.php

[kiva]

4. Hillary Care...

oh you mean the plan she introduced during the primaries, the one that would have required all Americans to purchase insurance - the one that candidate Obama attacked because he didn't think people should be forced to purchase insurance? That one?

[Hoyt]

7. Nope, I mean the plan she introduced in Clinton's first term that was defeated and left us with

nothing for almost 20 years.

[kiva]

15. Interesting - so then it was Hilary's fault

but now the reason we don't have actual guaranteed health care instead of health insurance is because of the Republicans - I know you haven't said this, but this is the reason given by many here. Do you think it's the Republican's fault that we don't have actual, you know, health care?

[Hoyt]

16. No, it was excellent plan, but the Congressional obstructions defeated it and we got NOTHING.

Nothing, for 20 years.

That was about to happen again in 2009/10. Fortunately, we got a framework that can be easily modified now that the door is open. And that framework helps a lot of people, some of whom haven't figured that out yet.

[frazzled]

5. What a bunch of misinformation

A family of three living in poverty (i.e., at or under the poverty line) will get Medicaid, for pretty much $0.

However, since Florida's horrible legislature rejected the Medicaid expansion provisions in the ACA, that family making 138% of poverty will indeed need to buy insurance. Blame it on Florida, not the ACA.

Let's say that family makes $26,000 per year (133% of poverty). They could get their one child insured by the CHIP program, but let's say they don't. What will their subsidy be? According to the Kaiser calculator:

If your state does not expand Medicaid, you will be eligible to purchase subsidized coverage through the exchanges.

The information below is about subsidized exchange coverage. Note that depending on your state's eligibility requirements, you may still be eligible for coverage through Medicaid.

Household income in 2014:133% of poverty level
Unsubsidized annual health insurance premium in 2014:$7,953
Maximum % of income you have to pay for the non-tobacco premium, if eligible for a subsidy:3.01% Amount you pay for the premium:$782 per year
(which equals 3.01% of your household income and covers 10% of the overall premium)
You could receive a government tax credit subsidy of up to:$7,171
(which covers 90% of the overall premium)

http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/#income-type=dollars&income=26%2C000&employer-coverage=0&people=3&adult-count=2&adults%5B0%5D%5Bage%5D=21&adults%5B0%5D%5Btobacco%5D=0&adults%5B1%5D%5Bage%5D=21&adults%5B1%5D%5Btobacco%5D=0&child-count=1&child-tobacco=0

So this family gets a subsidy of $7,171. The cost of the insurance, for a silver (intermediate) plan is $7,953. To buy that silver plan, it would cost the family $782 per year, or $65 per month. They of course could also buy the gold plan, but they'd get the same subsidy so would have to pay somewhat more.

[leftstreet]

9. ...with a $2,000 deductible n/t

[Hoyt]

17. Well, that deductible doesn't apply to most preventive care - so get a colonoscopy, well visits, etc

And, if you get really sick and need say a transplant -- the fact you might not be able to afford the deductible won't keep you from getting the care.

Every health insurance policy I have been able to afford for at least 20 years had a much higher deductible than $2000. This is a big improvement, but more improvement is needed.

[Demo_Chris]

21. I entered my family's info into the form you provided

Under this marvelous plan I am now required by law to pony up $344 per month -- which I do not even begin to have. This payment would buy me a high co pay and high deductible silver plan, which means that if I actually need to use it I would first have to come up with however many thousand needed to cover the co pays.

And all this is, of course, assuming that any such insurance plan actually exists in my state.

The one part we all know does exist, the one part they haven't delayed, is the mandate. Company rules have been delayed, insurance rules have been delayed, the rules covered everyone else might as well be made of candyfloss, but the law requiring my family buy insurance with money that we don't have is still right on fucking schedule.

Now maybe you do have an extra three-fifty lying around. Maybe that's chump change to you. But for millions and millions of us that's a lot of fucking money. So now, thanks to my party, I will have to either get yet another job (and there aren't enough hours in the day for that) or choose which utility my family can do without. I can explain to my daughter that we electricity is a luxury, making your insurance payment is the LAW

[stevenleser]

8. No ifs. Half of the uninsured in FL will be able to do this. nt

[KittyWampus]

11. That family of three living in poverty will NOT be forced to pony up $3600. It's a crime you are so

misinformed at this point.

[winter is coming]

14. If you're in a state that's not expanding Medicaid, and you fall into the gap

between "Medicaid" and "eligible for subsidy", you will likely be exempt from the mandate.

http://www.advisory.com/Daily-Briefing/2013/06/27/Who-will-be-exempt-from-the-ACA-mandate-The-final-list

Yeah, it's not like you'll be getting coverage, but at least you won't be fined for it. I don't think we'll really know how many of the poor are expected to pony up for coverage they can't afford (even with subsidy) until there's some concrete information available about how the exchanges are/aren't working.

[tabasco]

10. I notice the trolls and utopians have revved up their attacks lately

Strangely coinciding with October 1, when the marketplaces open.

[Scurrilous]

20. K & R