Calculator: What Does The Health Care Bill Mean For You?

[flpoljunkie]

(Ezra Klein linked to this in his blog, and thinks it's pretty good.)

What does the health care bill mean to me?

The health-care overhaul will change the way millions of Americans get health insurance and require nearly everyone to have health insurance or face penalties. A number of factors - including income, age, location and family size - will determine how it specifically impacts your life. This tool looks at what it could mean for your health coverage and taxes based on your income, family size and current insurance status.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/what-health-bill-means-for-you/?nav=most_emailed

[liberal N proud]

1. No changes for me

[freddie mertz]

2. No change.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

3. It doesn' say if my premiums will go up or down...

:shrug:

[Tailormyst]

6. Nobody really knows yet what will happen

I'm betting that they don't go down unless forced to go down by the government.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

7. True, but with a mandated pool of insurance the natural pressure would be to lower prices.

More members in pools should equal less risk... but I'll bet insurers pocket that money.

[Tailormyst]

29. I think they will pocket the profits too

[JTFrog]

14. It says I'll get tax credits to ensure premiums will be no more than $8,027 in 2014.

That's less than half what our premiums are now for just me and my husband... and as soon as we find out how, we'll be putting our three boys back on our insurance who fell off after their 19th birthdays.

[Tailormyst]

4. No change for me

Still no insurance. However, the student loan companies who get my tax refund every year will be getting less after the fine is taken out of my refund.

[flamin lib]

32. The reconciliation bill removes the fine for not insuring.

Not sure how the mandate is supposed to be enforced, but I suspect that Nancy P has some ideas about both the mandate and enforcement.

[T Wolf]

5. No change, no new taxes - and I still do not like it, even though my 23-year old daughter

can now be covered.

Whatever minimal benefits might accrue from this law are negated by the lost opportunity to really make major, progressive advancements in how this country takes (medical) care of its people.

There will be no "fixes" down the road - this has been one-and-done for our cowardly politicians.

[nevergiveup]

8. Huge for me and 3 of my employees

It gives a substantial tax break for me if I keep our small company health plan. We have had a 60% increase in premiums in the past 2 years. We were at the edge of the cliff but now will be able to maintain the plan. If we had folded the plan 3 of 5 employees would not have been able to get their own insurance because of pre-existing conditions. This has taken huge pressure off of me in what has been a horrible business cycle.

[Jennicut]

9. Good to hear!

The biggest change for me is if my husband ever lost his job and our insurance, eventually I would not be turned down for new insurance because of having diabetes. I have looked into what it would mean to switch insurance and some providers will cover the pre-existing condition and some won't. It is a very uneasy feeling to have that over your head.

[flpoljunkie]

20. That is terrific to hear!

[Triana]

10. No change for me but if you're poor or unemployed you are forced to pay

insurance companies and are penalized on your taxes if you don't.

And they STILL can deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions and deny claims altogether.

No change for me but for a lot of people whose life is already hard enough and who can afford it the least, life just got harder. The people who can least afford to pay are now going to have to pay into a broken system based on corprat profit and greed.

So - uh yea. WHERE is the 'reform'? Is that IT?

Pfft.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

15. Wrong...

The bill has exceptions for persons who cannot obtain insurance, either because they are not insurable or because they can't afford to pay. What's more, despite the current hysteria about the IRS hiring 17,000 tax examiners to enforce Healthcare Reform, the law specifically prohibits criminal penalties, levies and liens to be used to collect the fine.

Children with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied effective on the day Obama signs the bill. Adults with pre-existing conditions can get coverage through a government-established high risk pool until 2014, when insurance companies will then be barred from denying coverage on account of pre-existing conditions.

The people who can least afford to pay are going to pay anything for this unless that have actual coverage.

Pfft right back at you.

[vaberella]

28. It's disturbing how wrong you are. You haven't been paying attention have you? n/t

[Bobbie Jo]

31. Paying attention to the misinformation squad, perhaps.

They're working it pretty hard.

[stevenleser]

47. All you have to do is start plugging in numbers to know how wrong you are (n/t)

[kjackson227]

11. No IMMEDIATE change for me, but in four years...

this will save me $245.00 per month. Also, the HCR will be in place if my daughter (who has a pre-existing condition), gets laid off from her job.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

12. None....and I'm good with that

I have health care with reasonable coverage and a reasonable price.

According to this calculator, I won't pay any additional taxes. That's OK, but honestly I would be willing to pay more if it meant everybody got coverage.

And when we finally do adopt the Public Option, I'm willing to dig a little deeper to make it happen.

[JTFrog]

13. Cut my premiums in half in 2014 and add my 3 boys back on my insurance no extra cost now.

What this bill means for my taxes:

You will not pay any additional taxes.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

16. Yowza!

That's like winning the lottery!

[Dappleganger]

25. Excellent.

[joeglow3]

17. That "calculator" is terrible

I agree that most of us will not be affected. However, there are some things that would appear many of us:

http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Web/20102724.htm

For instance, the cut in FSA will impact us for about $560 a year (2,500 x 22.5%). For those that have medical expenses not covered by insurance (for instance, in vitro), you will see your AGI threshold for medical deductions go from 7.5% to 10%.

[HughMoran]

18. It is terrible - I work for a small business and it offers little to no information

How annoying.

Your link is helpful as another I read doesn't mention the tax credits being pro-rated when your company is between 10 & 25 employees (which is, of course, the size of my company!!). Thanks for the link!

[Clio the Leo]

19. "You will not pay any additional taxes..."

WHAT!? .... You mean I'm being LIED to by crazies BS artists on the right AND the left!!! NO WAY!!!!

:)

Thanks for posting! Will send to everyone I know!

[SpartanDem]

23. No changes

thanks for posting this

[terrell9584]

21. Says I now have to pay over $200 a month

To private companies after subsidies. Money I don't have.


So the choice for me is satisfy the mandate and forget about graduate school part time and bettering my life or better my life, pay the fine and simply degrade the choice of food I have and more lost time shopping as I won't now be able to go out as much as I'll need to cut back on gas.


This bill is bullshit. Anyone making under $50,000 shouldn't have to pay a goddamned dime. It should all be subsidized.

[Dappleganger]

24. You wrote...

"Anyone making under $50,000 shouldn't have to pay a goddamned dime. It should all be subsidized."

Are you married with dependent children? 50K is a quite a bit to not pay a DIME. This kind of program isn't every going to be free...those who have above a certain income should be paying their fair share.

[Festivito]

22. What is it with writers these days who cannot use the words yearly or monthly?

I know they mean yearly, but it's annoying since they are targeting an audience that does not know, and worse, it's not just this site, it's all over the place.

[marlakay]

26. Step daughter gets to stay on for 3 more years

but other than that everything stays the same and lifetime limits they just told me i had will be gone soon.

[old mark]

27. I might get tax breaks, we will pay no new taxes, my wife - on Medicare-

won't have the "donut hole" to pay - a huge savings, her meds are quite expensive.

mark

[niceypoo]

30. No change, Im still getting fucked over

Im getting gouged as of April 1st (40% hike in premiums, $5000 yearly deductible) and this bill does absolutely nothing to stop it. I wont be able to afford to get sick after April 1st and I have "insurance." Sad, sad.

[flpoljunkie]

34. HHS Sebelius is being urged by Dems to rollback and/or reduce these premium increases

Your problem is a 'big f*cking deal,' as well. Let's hope the Obama administration can stop this outrageous move by the insurance companies.

[niceypoo]

40. Well, I am a lot more HOPEful now that something has actually happened

...on the healthcare front

[greencharlie]

33. doesn't help me...

We don't qualify for subsidies, don't currently have insurance... and will have to buy insurance or pay $2100 per year fine.

So HOW is this better than universal HC?

[flpoljunkie]

35. Can you not afford insurance (pre-existing condition) or do you choose not to buy it?

Starting in 2014, require that most Americans have a minimum level of health insurance or else pay a penalty.

Would revise the penalty for some years: In 2014, $95 a year or 1 percent household’s income; in 2015, $325 or 2 percent of income; in 2016, $695 or 2.5 percent of income (with a maximum of $2,085 for a family).

Instead of using the poverty threshold to exempt low-income people, the bill would exempt households with incomes below the tax-filing threshold — $9,350 for individuals and $18,700 for couples in 2009.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/19/us/politics/20100319-health-care-reconciliation.html

[greencharlie]

39. well...

we live in SoCal, which is really expensive. For our family we would need to pay about $450 per month... we choose to spend our money on other things like food, housing, transportation and education... So we're ineligible because of our income, but can't afford insurance.

[flpoljunkie]

42. Perhaps your employer will be eligible for a subsidy and you will be able to get insurance

[flpoljunkie]

43. Exceptions to the individual mandate

Q: Are there any exceptions to the individual mandate?

A. Yes. The approved measure provides hardship exceptions for those individuals and families whose incomes are too small to be able to afford the premiums required to pay for a basic insurance policy. More specifically, individuals or families who find that the least expensive policy available requires more than 9.8% of household income would be exempted from the mandate.

http://www.realtor.org/small_business_health_coverage.nsf/Pages/health_ref_faq_indiv_mandates?OpenDocument

[kestrel91316]

36. Hopefully Kaiser (who has the only semi-affordable plan around)

won't pull the stunt that Blue Cross did when I tried to get a policy through them several years ago - they obviously suspected I HAD to have a PEC (because I hadn't seen a doctor in years, but was in excellent health with no such PEC) and so they dragged their feet and just couldn't find a way to process my application, claiming they couldn't get records from doctors.

It's illegal to deny a policy in CA for PEC and has been for years, but this is how they get around it. If they have any reason to suspect, they just won't process your application.

[tinrobot]

37. I just got a Kaiser plan in CA

Hadn't had a plan for years or seen a doctor.

They let me right in.

[LWolf]

38. Nothing.

Which means I'll still be paying premiums and not getting care.

[dpbrown]

41. I can buy into the exchange in 2014 but won't get a subsidy or any help

Sounds expensive to me.

[jeanpalmer]

44. over 26 years old, single, $40,000 income

"Beginning in 2014...the tax credits will ensure you do not spend more than $3800 on premiums. Your maximum out-of-pocket costs for deductibles and co-payments would be capped at 30% of total cost."

Gives only the max, doesn't really indicate what you would have to pay or what the subsidy would be. I assume the insurance companies will use the calculator and charge the max.

How's an individual making $40,000 with no health problems going to feel about having to come up with $3800 a year plus 30%?

[flpoljunkie]

45. There will be a much less expensive catastrophic plan for people up to the age of 30.

If insurance is not affordable, people will not buy it. That will be a problem that will have to be fixed--perhaps thru a public option plan that will really work to drive down the cost or health insurance.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/19/us/politics/20100319-health-care-reconciliation.html

[stevenleser]

48. Compared to now you mean?

Where before the bill the chances are that someone making $40K has no chance of affording insurance on their own?
$3800 a year is around $300 per month. A single person making $40K per year, taking home around $2666 a month has a good chance of affording that.

[stevenleser]

46. We should keep kicking this. Skinner/mods might even want to pin this to the top

This link should be sent to everyone you know. I have it on my facebook page, have sent it out to coworkers, etc. It is EXACTLY what we need.

[stevenleser]

49. Kickety kick

:kick: