Gruber: Mandate Opt-Out?!

[vaberella]

What? I didn't know that there was an opt-out mandate. If it costs more than 8% of your income...then your not subject to a mandate. And he said there were others. He's summarizing since there are a lot of things going. I wish I was in this room so I can come with some questions.

Jonathan Gruber is an economist from MIT. He's the one who helped design the said bill. He's currently talking about the Cadillac tax.

http://www.cspan.org/Watch/C-SPAN2.aspx

[kenny blankenship]

1. All you need now is an accountant and a tax atty. Awesome!

I'm sure every poor person has access to those.

[DrToast]

3. WTF? All you need is grade school math

If you need an accountant to figure out what 8% of your income is, then you've probably got bigger problems to worry about.

[kenny blankenship]

7. No. You need professionals to PROVE your income is what you say it is.

If the IRS disagrees with you about what 8% of your income is, then you may soon be seeing a lot more of them.

[phleshdef]

10. You sound like someone that has no experience doing your own taxes.

You don't need professionals for squat. You need a w2 form if you work and you need a calculator. Thats it.

[vaberella]

11. Yeah. But low income people get FREE income tax filing.

This is broadly known.

[vaberella]

5. No one has access to a calculator? Pen and paper & basic multiplication and division is enough. n/t

[Orangepeel]

8. you are also exempt if you don't make enough to file a tax return

if you do file, you should know what your income is

[phleshdef]

9. Poor people get medicaid and its simple math regardless.

[DrToast]

2. Yep, most people don't realize that

That's why you get 95% of the people covered. Some will opt out.

[vaberella]

4. Yup, that's what he just said.

I'm one of those who gets to opt-out.

[Orangepeel]

6. yep

The House and Senate bills require individuals who have affordable options but who choose to remain uninsured to make a payment to offset the cost of care they will inevitably need. The House bill’s payment is a percentage of income. The Senate sets the payment as a flat dollar amount or percentage of income, whichever is higher (although not higher than the lowest premium in the area). Both the House and Senate bill provide a low-income exemption, for those individuals with incomes below the tax filing threshold (House) or below the poverty threshold (Senate).The Senate also includes a “hardship” exemption for people who cannot afford insurance, included in the President’s Proposal. It protects those who would face premiums of more than 8 percent of their income from having to pay any assessment and they can purchase a low-cost catastrophic plan in the exchange if they choose.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/summary-presidents-proposal.pdf

[Massacure]

12. So if we use the following scenario:

A 21 year old who makes $30,000 a year will be able to opt out because he or she will be paying $2,637 premium without receiving subsidies, which is 8.2% of his or her income. The math actually works for people who earn between $27,000-$33,000.

A 64 year old who person who makes between $27,000 and $99,000 a year will be able to opt out.

A family of four at age 21 can opt out between $55,000 and $88,000.

A family of four at age 64 can opt out between $55,000 and $268,000.

Note: This is assuming the reconciliation proposal is adopted and using the calculator found here:
http://healthreform.kff.org/SubsidyCalculator.aspx

[vaberella]

13. Yup, so basically people will never really be penalized. n/t