From USA.gov
If you’d like your health coverage to begin January 1, 2014, be sure to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace by December 23, 2013.
There are four ways to apply for health insurance through the Marketplace: online, by phone, in person, and by mail.
Although December 23 is the deadline for coverage beginning January 1, you can apply for Marketplace coverage after December 23. Open enrollment runs through March 31, 2014.
I have been assisting a number of clients with the expected tax consequences of the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare and I am finding that for the most part people are either misinformed or uninformed. There is also a great deal of fear and trepidation regarding the change to Obamacare. Humans are predisposed to the status quo. No matter how bad the situation, the known tends to be perceived as a better alternative than the unknown.
I have talked to clients who are battling ongoing chronic illnesses and who literally have no health insurance whatsoever, none, zero, zip, nada. But when I tell them about the availability of coverage under the Affordable Care Act as well as the possibility of receiving subsidies to reduce the out of pocket cost to even reasonably high income earners, not to mention the tax penalty provisions for those who don’t have coverage in place by January 2014, these clients tell me they don’t know about this Obamacare thing. They say they have heard bad things about this Obamacare and they don’t want to get caught up in something that might bring ridicule and embarrassment upon them.
Look, I get it. You are a family four and you are earning darn near $100,000 a year. You don’t want to put on your tuxedo and show up at the cocktail party to brag about how you qualified for a small healthcare premium subsidy under Obamacare. But if you are sick and you have no coverage whatsoever, I’m not seeing the downside to this deal. And anyone who tries to discourage you from signing up for coverage that just might save your life has a special seat in Hades with their name on it just waiting for them.
Yes the Affordable Care Act website is currently FUBAR and it may take some time to get it functioning correctly. So what? I defy you to name one website anywhere that functions correctly all the time. This is a no lose situation for most of us and many of us have already won by being able to keep our kids on our healthcare plan up to age 26 or eliminating pre-existing conditions rules. So as soon as the website is available get online and signup. If the website isn’t working get on the phone and call to sign up or submit a paper application but get it done.
If Tax On Wheels, LLC can be of assistance to you in helping you understand the law and the tax consequences that flow from it please feel free to give us a call at 803 732-4288. Click here to view a special page we have set up to direct you to the resources that can help you understand how Healthcare Reform works.
September 25, 2013
The federal government has released the rates for the new healthcare exchanges and the news is good if you are an older healthcare consumer. Younger consumers should probably plan on paying slightly more than they are accustomed to paying. In Columbia, South Carolina the lowest cost plan that meets the new requirements under Healthcare Reform is $166.00 which is lot more affordable than many sources had led us to believe it was going to be.
This $166 premium will buy coverage under a bronze plan, which may not provide the level of coverage that you want. But the choice will be yours whether to buy a more comprehensive coverage at a higher cost.
The Wall Street Journal seems to be the first out with the story and they are behind a pay wall. So if you don’t have a subscription you won’t be able to read the entire story. However, they have graciously provided a state by state chart located here under the tab labeled graphics. This should be the big news story today so more news outlets should have the same information.
Update:
The Washington Post as well as The New York Times quickly follow with their own stories about the cost of plans on the healthcare exchanges.
As always, please feel free to contact Tax On Wheels, LLC at 803 732-4288 if you have additional questions.
September 24, 2013
Politics aside, how could coverage improve for you & your loved ones?
Health care reform has many fans and many detractors. Amid all the sound and fury, the plain facts risk being blurred. So here is a look at where the reforms stand, and what they potentially offer you.
Here is how the health care exchanges will operate. According to healthcare.gov, open enrollment in the new health insurance exchanges is set to start on October 1; the open enrollment window for 2014 closes next March 31. Coverage you purchase via these exchanges becomes effective as soon as January 1, 2014. The federal government refers collectively to the 51 exchanges (one for each state and one for the District of Columbia) as the Health Insurance Marketplace. The federal government is running 34 of the 51 exchanges; others will be run by the respective state governments.1,2
When you visit the Health Insurance Marketplace online, you will be asked to fill out a form (with household size and income as key details) and then be presented with a roster of health insurance plans available in your area. You are also supposed to be notified if you qualify for lower out-of-pocket costs, or the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program or Medicaid.1
All plans offered through the exchanges will be from private insurers, and all of these plans will offer the same primary set of benefits. To make comparisons of price, benefits, and features easier, plans are slated to be presented in four categories – bronze, silver, gold, and platinum.1
Not all applicants will enroll online. Paper applications will also be provided starting October 1 (and for the record, may be downloaded). Applying by mail is possible; applying in person is possible with the assistance of a Navigator – a customer service representative for the HIM. The Navigators aren’t supposed to recommend this or that plan or plan option; they are to offer impartial guidance. Some states are requiring them to be insurance-licensed.1,2
The ACA is also inspiring private-sector imitators. Aon Hewitt has started its own private online health insurance marketplace for 2014, with more than 330,000 employees projected to enroll and 17 large U.S. companies already aboard.3
Here is how you benefit as a result of the reforms. Starting in 2014, insurers can’t cancel your policy due to an illness, and can’t put lifetime or annual dollar limits on payments for someone’s medical expenses. Young adults may stay on a parent’s health plan until age 26, whether they live at home or not. Also on track for change: No health plan will be able to turn down an adult or child applicant due to a preexisting medical condition or illness. Health plans will no longer be able to charge you for annual checkups and preventive care measures (such as cancer screenings and immunizations) in 2014. Health insurance premiums can no longer vary by gender.4,5
Medicare recipients will no longer have to pay out-of-pocket costs for common forms of preventative care such as vaccines, diabetes, cancer and cholesterol screenings and annual wellness checks. The infamous prescription drug “doughnut hole” may close altogether by 2020: while Medicare recipients got a 50% discount on brand name drugs and a 14% discount on generic drugs in 2012, those percentages will approach 75% by 2020.3,4,5
The federal government will effectively subsidize health insurance coverage for millions of lower-income Americans (about $5,000 per individual) in 2014 as they enroll in health plans through the HIM or buy coverage from health insurance companies selling individual and small group policies. The reforms could make as many as 17 million Americans Medicaid-eligible next year. In addition, more than $1.1 billion in rebates have been sent from insurance companies to consumers as a byproduct of the reforms.3,4
Here are the known problems & issues. As the Affordable Care Act represents an unprecedented revision to health insurance in America, there could be delays getting the HIM up and running by October 1. In addition, a tiny percentage of Americans will still be without health insurance. The requirement for larger employers to offer health insurance plans to their employees has been delayed until 2015.6
Here are things you should look out for in the future. Medicare Advantage plans will receive less and less money from the federal government due to the reforms: payments to Part C plans are going to shrink roughly $150 billion by 2022, so if you have Part C coverage, you will want to keep an eye on the plan premiums as they might gradually rise. It could be that the online health insurance exchanges produce a healthy competition that leads insurers to lower prices for coverage in the next few years; that remains to be seen. Not all states want to expand Medicaid; they can opt in or out.4,5
Try to avoid getting caught up in the sound and fury with health care reform; stay focused on what you can or cannot do with it. We have established a dedicated page on this website to provide comprehensive, accurate and up to date information regarding Healthcare Reform and you can access this resource by clicking on the red and blue link on the right side of this page or simply click here . And as always, please feel to contact Tax On Wheels, LLC at 803 732-4288 if we can be of assistance to you.
Citations.
1 – healthcare.gov/what-is-the-health-insurance-marketplace/ [9/17/13]
2 – usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/09/obamacare-health-insurance-navigators-draw-scrutiny/2787239/ [9/9/13]
3 – forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2013/09/17/walgreen-joins-rush-to-employer-exchanges-an-alternative-to-obamacare-marketplace/ [9/17/13]
4 – consumerreports.org/health/resources/pdf/ncqa/The_Affordable_Care_Act-You_and_Your_Family.pdf [9/17/13]
5 – marketwatch.com/story/obamacare-explained-in-plain-english-2013-09-11 [9/11/13]
6 – finance.yahoo.com/news/q-impact-health-law-delay-businesses-211823119.html [7/3/13]
9/23/2013
In case you have been living under a rock and are unaware of all the noise surrounding the introduction of a major portion of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), we would like to remind you that Healthcare Reform is finally about to implement its most significant feature, affordable healthcare for everyone.
If you are so busy that you only read headlines and view broadcast snippets, you may have fallen under the impression that Obamacare has been defunded, it has not. There was a vote by one house of congress to defund Obamacare. If you will recall from your 8th grade civics class lessons, it will take the additional action of the other house of congress and the signature of the President to affect any action of this sort. Both of whom have indicated that there is no chance any such action is forthcoming.
So beginning in one week, the healthcare marketplace (exchanges) will be available in all 50 states. Despite a great deal of discussion surrounding shutting down the government, we are being told by very trustworthy sources that Obamacare is a speeding train that cannot be stopped. For those of us that already have health insurance coverage there will be little to no change. But for those people who were previously unable to acquire health insurance coverage you will be able to sign up for affordable coverage that begins effective January 1, 2014.
There has been a great deal of misinformation disseminated about Healthcare Reform and you may be confused about what is or isn’t true. For this reason we have dedicated a special page on this website to try to help you figure out how Healthcare Reform affects you personally. We have provided resources that we believe to be credible and accurate. You will find a link to the Healthcare Reform Information Page down the right side of this website or just click here to be taken to the resource.
As a business owner, it can be difficult to understand how the Affordable Care Act can affect your business. So to help clarify the myths versus facts, the Small Business Administration is launching a new blog series called “Myth vs. Fact: The Affordable Care Act and Small Business.”
One prominent line of thinking that seems to recur frequently is the idea of making sure your business never reaches the 50 full time employee threshold that places you under the financial dictates of the Affordable Care Act. The idea is to layoff or never hire that last employee in order to avoid the financial consequences of having to provide health care insurance for all of your employees. My question is this, doesn’t this kind of thinking allow the competition to come in and steal market share by serving those customers who are not getting the proper attention from your 49 employees?
I’m just saying, The Affordable Care Act may not be a pillar of the laissez-faire free market economics but failing to adequately serve your customers will almost certainly bring the wrath of the free market down on your head.