Forced to sign up for ObamaCare today :/

Chrystal-J

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From what I've read, it's like doing a LONG complicated math problem in college. (And I wasn't good at math.)

You have to figure out the tax credits properly or you'll end up owing at the end of the year and I'm on a very tight budget. The co-pays, co-insurances, deductibles and premium prices are enough to make your head spin. But, my late husband's employer is shifting everyone to Obama-care and off of their traditional Blue Cross. (My "widow's check" requires the recipient have health insurance, so I can't just say 'no' to it.)

I'm going in person to Blue Cross and a few other insurances in town to see what they have to offer. I can't call because my hearing is so poor--I can't hear on the phone well enough for something this important. And I don't trust the Obama-care Web-site as far as I can throw it.

Anyone else here signed up for Obama-care yet?

It's gonna be a long day.... :sorry:
 

JimR-OCDS

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I've been on Romney Care which is now Obama Care, for the past two years.

It was a life saver and the cost is very affordable.

It seems complicated at first, but you'll see the benefit when you're fully enrolled and insured.


Stay positive is the best advice I can give you.

Jim
 
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Chrystal-J

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I've been on Romney Care which is now Obama Care, for the past two years.

It was a life saver and the cost is very affordable.

It seems complicated at first, but you'll see the benefit when you're fully enrolled and insured.


Stay positive is the best advice I can give you.

Jim

Thanks for the encouragement. How do you calculate the tax credits so you don't owe at the end of the year?
 
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Chrystal-J

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For anyone going through this, I found this IRS tax info:

Link: The Premium Tax Credit

If you choose to get it now: When you file your 2014 tax return in 2015, you will subtract the total advance payments you received during the year from the amount of the Premium Tax Credit calculated on your tax return. If the Premium Tax Credit computed on the return is more than the advance payments made on your behalf during the year, the difference will increase your refund or lower the amount of tax you owe. If the advance credit payments are more than the Premium Tax Credit, the difference will increase the amount.

But, how do you know the "correct amount"?
 
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JimR-OCDS

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Thanks for the encouragement. How do you calculate the tax credits so you don't owe at the end of the year?


They do it according to your income.


When my wife and myself signed up, we went to the local GAPH office, which Massachusetts has.

The woman who helped us, was very friendly and informative.

Anyway, we filled out the form, with all our income info.

A week later, we got a letter telling us they received the application.

A week after that, we got a letter telling us we were approved and they gave us and account number, which we used to register at the Mass Heath Connector website. We put our account number in and were were given a list of insurance companies along with their levels, i.e. Bronz, Silver and Gold, which we could chose from, and they provided what our premiums would be according to the plan we chose.

We chose our insurance and it was excellent. A person from the insurance company even called us to thank us for choosing them, and to help us with any questions.

When I went through cancer surgery this past summer, all we ended up paying was $250.

The only scary part was when they rejected us after my review last year, because I had cashed in some 401K's, because I had been out of work and needed the cash. They used my 2011 tax Return and determined my income was too high. However, when I called and informed them that this was a 401k distribution which has to be spread out over my life-span, they realized the error, that it was not an annual income. So, we go approved and kept our insurance.

So, just be sure you keep good records of your income and of course, always place it into God's hands.


Jim
 
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dogs4thewin

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They do it according to your income.


When my wife and myself signed up, we went to the local GAPH office, which Massachusetts has.

The woman who helped us, was very friendly and informative.

Anyway, we filled out the form, with all our income info.

A week later, we got a letter telling us they received the application.

A week after that, we got a letter telling us we were approved and they gave us and account number, which we used to register at the Mass Heath Connector website. We put our account number in and were were given a list of insurance companies along with their levels, i.e. Bronz, Silver and Gold, which we could chose from, and they provided what our premiums would be according to the plan we chose.

We chose our insurance and it was excellent. A person from the insurance company even called us to thank us for choosing them, and to help us with any questions.

When I went through cancer surgery this past summer, all we ended up paying was $250.

The only scary part was when they rejected us after my review last year, because I had cashed in some 401K's, because I had been out of work and needed the cash. They used my 2011 tax Return and determined my income was too high. However, when I called and informed them that this was a 401k distribution which has to be spread out over my life-span, they realized the error, that it was not an annual income. So, we go approved and kept our insurance.

So, just be sure you keep good records of your income and of course, always place it into God's hands.


Jim
see though one state has a smaller population. People my age can shut this down. Frankly, why not just let people choose and if they choose no coverage understanding they either pay up or die when they get sick so be it. I have made that decision with my ( various) health problems WITH coverage. It is NOT that hard.
 
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What I am saying that is not hard is UNDERSTANDING on a strictly on a mental level that everyone WILL die. It is life. I am NOT saying that coping with death is easy, but just the FACT is NOT hard to understand.
 
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JimR-OCDS

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see though one state has a smaller population. People my age can shut this down. Frankly, why not just let people choose and if they choose no coverage understanding they either pay up or die when they get sick so be it. I have made that decision with my ( various) health problems WITH coverage. It is NOT that hard.

Because ER's were being overwhelmed with people who chose or couldn't afford health insurance, for ailments that could've been treated cheaper, by their own primary care physician, often with just a phone call.

Those cost were transferred onto the taxpayers and health insurance companies who tacked on the expense to those who had health insurance in their premiums.

It also takes emergency health care for those who need to be in an ER.

Before Governor Romney put his health care plan into Massachusetts, the local ER in my area shut down and ambulance drivers had to drive to other cities with people having heart attacks or who were injured in car accidents etc. Romney knew it had to be fixed and that's just what he did.

FYI, the MIT Professor who created Romney Care, is the same guy who help put together Obama Care.

Anyway, it's hear to stay until it breaks and the government will be forced to put a single payer universal health care system in place, which in my opinion, should've happened back in 1993.


Jim
 
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JimR-OCDS

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What I am saying that is not hard is UNDERSTANDING on a strictly on a mental level that everyone WILL die. It is life. I am NOT saying that coping with death is easy, but just the FACT is NOT hard to understand.

So if a person needs medical treatment that will save their life, you rather see them die instead of making you buy health insurance, which is for your own good in the first place ?

Jim
 
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dogs4thewin

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If you choose not to have coverage they do not have to treat you. You KNEW the risk you took it anyway. Be an adult and deal with what happened because of those actions.
 
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Chrystal-J

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The only scary part was when they rejected us after my review last year, because I had cashed in some 401K's, because I had been out of work and needed the cash. They used my 2011 tax Return and determined my income was too high. However, when I called and informed them that this was a 401k distribution which has to be spread out over my life-span, they realized the error, that it was not an annual income. So, we go approved and kept our insurance.

So, just be sure you keep good records of your income and of course, always place it into God's hands.


Jim

That's my fear is that I may have to take money out of my 401 for an emergency. I don't want to get penalized for that. Plus, my husband's employer is giving us a stipend that won't begin for a few months (that will raise my income for the year 2014). I don't want to end up owing for the 2014 tax year next April. I want to break even.
 
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Chrystal-J

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If you choose not to have coverage they do not have to treat you. You KNEW the risk you took it anyway. Be an adult and deal with what happened because of those actions.

Some people can't afford to eat AND pay a tax/insurance premiums. So, you can't judge them so harshly. Maybe health-care could be a little less expensive and we could go back to paying doctor's with eggs from the farm instead of the one million dollars my insurance paid out when my husband was sick.
 
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Some people can't afford to eat AND pay a tax premium. So, you can't judge them so harshly. Maybe health-care could be a little less expensive and we could go back to pay doctor's with eggs from the farm instead of the one million dollars my insurance paid out when my husband was sick.
or of course just refuse treatment. Know I said they would not HAVE to treat you not that they would not be PERMITTED to treat you. Here are the people that I believe the government OWES healthcare

1. Military since that was part of the contract
2. People who have turned at least SEVENTY not 62 not sixty-five but SEVENTY
3. People who have BECOME disabled
4 inmates state chooses to lock you up they pay for you

Unless and until a person fits in one of those groups get healthcare on your own or do not but deal with whatever the result is.
 
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Chrystal-J

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or of course just refuse treatment. Know I said they would not HAVE to treat you not that they would not be PERMITTED to treat you. Here are the people that I believe the government OWES healthcare

1. Military since that was part of the contract
2. People who have turned at least SEVENTY not 62 not sixty-five but SEVENTY
3. People who have BECOME disabled
4 inmates state chooses to lock you up they pay for you

Unless and until a person fits in one of those groups get healthcare on your own or do not but deal with whatever the result is.

Inmates over the working poor? Are you an ex-con? (Can't see defending that otherwise.)
 
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Chrystal-J

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Chrystal-J



They'll tell you when you apply and the see your income.

Your premiums will be calculated.


Jim

One last question--can you ask to pay for part of the premium and let the other half be a tax credit? That way, if I my income should rise, I would still not owe anything at the end of the year.
 
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Inmates over the working poor? Are you an ex-con? (Can't see defending that otherwise.)
no, I am NOT a felon, BUT I HAVE considered it to get help because I knew by LAW they had to treat or watch me. It was NOT a crime aganist a person, but I do decline to state what it was.
 
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Boidae

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I signed up just to see if i could get any subsidy so I could get health insurance and off this county plan that isn't really health insurance and away from medicaid share-of-cost as it is not affordable at $780 a month (if I had that I wouldn't need medicaid share-of-cost).

The result was that I may qualify for medicaid, but I do not qualify for a subsidy. I also do not qualify for medicaid because if I did, I would have full medicaid, not the share-of-cost medicaid.

So I talked with someone using their chat box and asked about being fined as while I am pretty sure that I do not have to pay the fine since I am one of the ones that falls in the middle of medicaid or being able to afford health insurance. I was told that I can file for an exemption, but that the exemption forms are not ready yet. That the fines will start in 2015. So my next logical question was, what happens if the forms still aren't ready? I was told that I will get fined.

So, even though, my state didn't extend medicaid coverage, and I do not qualify for a subsidy, I have to file for an exemption so that I do not get fined, yet if I cannot file for an exemption because the government hasn't put out the form I will get fined.


Something in that above paragraph seems off, don't you think?

*I understand that it's a year away, but this is the government we're talking about. I can see them not having the form ready.
 
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Boidae

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or of course just refuse treatment. Know I said they would not HAVE to treat you not that they would not be PERMITTED to treat you. Here are the people that I believe the government OWES healthcare

1. Military since that was part of the contract
2. People who have turned at least SEVENTY not 62 not sixty-five but SEVENTY
3. People who have BECOME disabled
4 inmates state chooses to lock you up they pay for you

Unless and until a person fits in one of those groups get healthcare on your own or do not but deal with whatever the result is.

How about someone like me, who stays home to take care of his disabled wife who can not afford to get healthcare on his own?

BTW, I did check to see how much the cheapest plan would be for me, and it was $260 a month, with a $4,000 deductable. My medications which one is crucial with me having Asthma, would not be paid for till I went over $4,000. So the monthly would be more like $400 a month.
 
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Chrystal-J

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I signed up just to see if i could get any subsidy so I could get health insurance and off this county plan that isn't really health insurance and away from medicaid share-of-cost as it is not affordable at $780 a month (if I had that I wouldn't need medicaid share-of-cost).

The result was that I may qualify for medicaid, but I do not qualify for a subsidy. I also do not qualify for medicaid because if I did, I would have full medicaid, not the share-of-cost medicaid.

So I talked with someone using their chat box and asked about being fined as while I am pretty sure that I do not have to pay the fine since I am one of the ones that falls in the middle of medicaid or being able to afford health insurance. I was told that I can file for an exemption, but that the exemption forms are not ready yet. That the fines will start in 2015. So my next logical question was, what happens if the forms still aren't ready? I was told that I will get fined.

So, even though, my state didn't extend medicaid coverage, and I do not qualify for a subsidy, I have to file for an exemption so that I do not get fined, yet if I cannot file for an exemption because the government hasn't put out the form I will get fined.


Something in that above paragraph seems off, don't you think?

*I understand that it's a year away, but this is the government we're talking about. I can see them not having the form ready.

That sounds like a nightmare I'd like to avoid. My sympathies go out to you and I hope you find a coverage that you can afford. (Or can figure out a way to get the exemption forms.) Those (lack of) forms sound like something that will get a lot of people off the hook in tax court.
 
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