Thursday, August 29, 2013

Affordable Care Act: Figuring out who's eligible for subsidies

With about a month left before enrollment begins in the new health insurance exchanges, the Kaiser Family Foundation has provided details that can help individuals determine what plans they might want to purchase and how much they might receive in federal subsidies.

Enrollment starts Oct. 1, and until then, consumers probably won't have enough information to make their choices. But don't worry. Enrollment lasts until March 30, 2014. That's six months to figure everything out.

People can begin to get familiar with the types of insurance plans that will be available. They're called bronze, silver, gold and platinum, with bronze plans having the lowest premiums and the most cost-sharing (through deductibles and copays) and platinum plans having the highest premium with the least cost-sharing.

Most people will not pay the "sticker prices" for health insurance premiums because they'll qualify for subsidies, Kaiser officials said.

Federal subsidies are available for individuals and families whose incomes are between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level. An individual at 100 percent of the FPL would earn $11,490 a year, a family of four would earn $23,550.  An individual at 400 percent of the poverty level would earn $45,960, a family of four would earn $94,200.

I've included below the Subsidy Calculator provided by the Kaiser foundation.
If you need more information, click here to link to the Kaiser foundation website.

Or click here for McClatchy coverage of the Affordable Care Act.




9 comments:

Ghoul said...

Let me simplify it for you. If you voted for Obama, you get subsidies, if you did not vote or Obama, you will be fined and jailed.

Anonymous said...

Now let's count the angry posts that demonstrate no knowledge of the law but great contempt for the President and his supporters.

Anonymous said...

No matter personal feelings about the Affordable Care Act, it is currently the law of the land.

In order to comply with the law in 2014, individuals MUST obtain healthcare coverage or pay a tax penalty. There are only a few exceptions.

If they don't have access to coverage through their employer, spouse, or other avenue, they will HAVE to obtain coverage as described in this blog post, or pay a tax penalty.

The tax penalty is only $95 or 1% of their annual income, whichever is highest. But not having coverage also means they are on the hook 100% for any healthcare costs they incur throughout the year.

I don't believe that the government should be managing healthcare. They have not done well with many other programs they've been in charge of. However, it is the law of the land, so it's best to help people understand so they can make the most educated decisions about whether to comply.

Archiguy said...

Anon 12:50 - You must not be 65 yet. The government actually does a good job of managing health care - for the elderly. That program is called Medicare and the approval rating from its participants is over 90%. The ultimate solution to the health care problem is to expand it to cover everyone in the country. The ACA is a necessary first step.

Furthermore, the ACA is not "managing" health care; that's still up to the private sector. They simply mandate coverage and require certain specifics of current health care providers.

The amount of ignorance about the ACA is breathtaking. The first post in this comment section, odious as it is, is typical.

The thing to remember is that tens of millions of Americans will now have access to health insurance who did not before. Many families will be saved from bankruptcy due to catastrophic medical costs. And by bringing more young, healthy people under the health insurance umbrella, the spiraling costs of health care can be distributed over a much wider pool, bringing down costs for everyone.

Obamacare - it's a good thing. No matter what FOX News says.

Wiley Coyote said...

Archie...

I would say the Federal Government is doing a sorry job of weeding out that fraud.

In 2010 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report claiming to have identified $48 billion in what it termed as “improper payments.” That’s nearly 10 percent of the $500 billion in outlays for that year. However, others, including U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, suggest that there is an estimated $60 to $90 billion in fraud in Medicare and a similar amount for Medicaid.

Afterall, Obama said he was going to pay for Obamacare by eliminating waste and fraud in Medicare and Medicaid.

I think it was Joe Wilson who called him a liar.

...and he was right.

Skippy said...

And not one single word will be said by the CO ever about all of the lies this President told over and over again to get this 17,000 pages of new regulations "passed" along with all of the bribes who Max Baucus called a train wreck.. But don't worry, 16,000 new IRS thugs will be tasked enforcing it. What can go wrong with that?

Skippy said...

Oh and workforce participation rates are at 34 years and 3 out of every 4 new "jobs" being created are part time and low wage due to Obamacare and yet the local sycophant will tell you "Obamacare is a good thing" and then reference a news channel..

Brillant beyond words..

Anonymous said...

Just because a company has over 50 employees doesn't mean it's large and doesn't mean it's profitable. That's one of the worst things with the bill. Some years my company breaks even or loses a bit, but we live for another year. My company may not survive as a 200K profit pre Obamacare will turn into a 200K loss with Obamacare.

Anonymous said...

Where is the government going to get this new money to pay these subsidies ?