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The idea of having to shop for health care (insurance) options is repulsive to me. We just received notice of a large increase in monthly premium for a Silver plan that is subsidized. DW called and ,yes, as you would expect, the insurance premium is going up but our payment may actually go down because our income decreased. I initially misunderstood the cost when we did the original estimate because the subsidy is not considered because of the confidential tax info required most likely not figured until you formally apply. I assumed at first that we could not afford any plan using the calculator and it turned out that it we were able to after subsidies but the premium was almost double than before the AHCA for an equivalent coverage policy. Having some coverage is better than none that we had for years.
As I have stated on other threads I think it is outrage that the insurance corps wrote this AHCA bill and the premiums are much higher that before and we all, through higher taxes funneling more money to them to pay for these subsidies. The only covered use I have had is a shingles shot. IMHO if you go in for a checkup at our age (64) you will be asked to take a number of prescription drugs and be put on a treadmill of ever increasing costly procedures to keep the for profit hospital corps wealthy.
A question regarding the including of SS benefits in the calculation of the ACA's definition of MAGI.
Do you have to include the gross amount of benefits from your SSA-1099, or the taxable amount that is determined by using the IRS's SS Benefits Worksheet found in the 1040 or 1040A Instructions booklet ?
You pay is 258. They ARE calculating on an income of 37500, you are right. And they don't make allowances that his income is SS. Not fair, BOO.
SS income is also taxed, depending on one's total income, so yeah, they do count SS as income. And if it's part of a total household income, it'll be added to the other household income at tax time- including a spouse or partners' SS income. I'm not sure what you consider unfair about that.
A question regarding the including of SS benefits in the calculation of the ACA's definition of MAGI.
Do you have to include the gross amount of benefits from your SSA-1099, or thetaxable amount that is determined by using the IRS's SS Benefits Worksheet found in the 1040 or 1040A Instructions booklet ?
I've heard of people telling me their employer had something to offer them after they retired and left the company. Is there a name for this that's offered for employees who are retired so we can ask about it? How does it work, are you still under the same group health coverage you were when working at the company? Did anything change other than having to pay the cost yourself? What much are you paying a month and is that for a couple? Thanks!
Basically I think these are considered employee benefits, applicable on retirement. Your best source of information to check out what might be available to you from either your or your spouses' employer would be the human resources departments. They may have a brochure or a website you can refer to to see what's available and how you go about getting what they offer.
And those benefits vary greatly. As others have mentioned, many employers don't offer health insurance coverage to their retirees- or they did but no longer do. You can usually keep your health insurance for a time after you retire by continuing your coverage via COBRA- that's generally pretty expensive as you pay the entirety of the policy yourself, although it's at the employer's contracted rate with the insurance carrier.
Your employer *may* offer coverage to its retired employees, but the details vary greatly depending on the company. My last employer ( a state agency) offers health insurance to its retirees, but they pay significantly more in premiums than when they were working ( the last I heard a BlueCross/Blue Shield PPO policy was $300/month for single coverage- less than half of that for employees still working, and about $800/month for a couple, but that's just an example).
I know the federal government offers health insurance to its retirees, and the premiums are the same as for working employees. There may be other employers who do the same, but I don't think there are many of those left.
Both of these insurance policies I mentioned become secondary insurance when the retirees become eligible for Medicare at age 65. They offer the advantages of covering prescription drug costs in addition to paying the 20% of costs not paid by Medicare.
As some have mentioned, if your employer doesn't offer any retiree insurance coverage and you can't afford COBRA continuation of that insurance, you might see if you qualify for Medicaid, or perhaps, if you can't find an insurance policy via the ACA website and perhaps qualify for a subsidy based on your income, to either go without ( and cross your fingers that nothing happens), because in the event that the least expensive policy still exceeds 8% of your income, you'd be exempt from the requirement to have health insurance ( another poster listed links for this information), or in that case perhaps you could find a low cost catastrophic policy that might keep you from going bankrupt in the event something catastrophic happened.
Or, depending on your income level, and if the insurance option isn't there, see what's available for free or lowcost healthcare in your community- sometimes community health clinics might be available- generally you pay on a sliding scale depending on your income.
The mega insurance companies are VERY lucrative. They earn a lot of money for their shareholders. I know, because I used to own stock in Aetna before I divested.
So, why are the mega insurance companies so financially healthy?
Because PEOPLE as a whole, who are trained to be little red hens, PAY IN MORE THAN THEY GET OUT. ALWAYS.
That's you, and you, and you, and you.
The constant comment is: But what if you're in a catastrophic accident or have a catastrophic illness? You'll need insurance then!
Choosing whether or not to have health insurance is making a bet. Each individual can choose whether or not to make that bet based on their own circumstances.
The mega INSURANCE companies make that bet, and they so far have always WON that bet, because (again) THEY ALWAYS PAY OUT LESS THAN THEY GET IN.
The other constant comment is, if you don't pay for insurance then society (our taxes) will have to pay if something catastrophic happens to you. Well, this is where the current health act is a failure. The government has been stepping up in these cases, while the mega insurance companies get off scott free and continue to laugh all the way to the bank. This is the situation that should have been fixed by (using the term Obamacare), which is why it is fatally flawed.
Every individual has to decide: Are you a little red hen??? You really don't have to be.
The mega insurance companies are VERY lucrative. They earn a lot of money for their shareholders. I know, because I used to own stock in Aetna before I divested.
So, why are the mega insurance companies so financially healthy?
Because PEOPLE as a whole, who are trained to be little red hens, PAY IN MORE THAN THEY GET OUT. ALWAYS.
That's you, and you, and you, and you.
The constant comment is: But what if you're in a catastrophic accident or have a catastrophic illness? You'll need insurance then!
Choosing whether or not to have health insurance is making a bet. Each individual can choose whether or not to make that bet based on their own circumstances.
The mega INSURANCE companies make that bet, and they so far have always WON that bet, because (again) THEY ALWAYS PAY OUT LESS THAN THEY GET IN.
The other constant comment is, if you don't pay for insurance then society (our taxes) will have to pay if something catastrophic happens to you. Well, this is where the current health act is a failure. The government has been stepping up in these cases, while the mega insurance companies get off scott free and continue to laugh all the way to the bank. This is the situation that should have been fixed by (using the term Obamacare), which is why it is fatally flawed.
Every individual has to decide: Are you a little red hen??? You really don't have to be.
Don't get health insurance.
That may well be, if you're healthy. But reading your post reminds me of how happy we were that we obtained decent health insurance for our daughter when she was kicked off our health insurance policy when she turned 22. This was back before Obamacare, there was no obligation regarding keeping the kid on a policy till age 26-(as it turned out, better for us that this was true). She was still in college, a non-smoker, about as healthy as they come, and we debated about her insurance coverage, was the expense worth it, did she need it, would the school insurance work? Well, I don't know whether it was a premonition or what, but I just couldn't see her without decent insurance, so we looked all over and finally purchased a BlueCross/BlueShield of Florida PPO policy and found the rates- less than $200/month for complete coverage (including prescription drug coverage) about as good as they came.
Fast forward about 1.5 years, she developed a life threatening cardiac condition, had to drop out of school, quit her job and move back home. She spent the next 3+ years visiting doctors, in and out of hospitals, procedure after procedure- cardiac and other procedures to rule out other causes, etc, cardiac and other medication, you name it. Her cardiologists ( one regular and one electrophysiologist) told us all that she would die unless they could get the condition under control, and she had some close calls. She ended up with a pacemaker, and a final open heart surgery to finally take care of the condition. I know her medical bills over those years were well over one million dollars, but her insurance company paid their share of the bills with no questions, no problems and timely. We paid her share for co-pays and deductibles, but the saving grace was the $5000 out of pocket maximum each year, which kept things more or less under control for us. I know that without that insurance, someone would have been bankrupt. They didn't increase her premiums or payments ( other than routine increases everyone gets) and they didn't drop her because she cost them lots of money- Florida has a state law prohibiting that- had it long before Obamacare.
She's doing well now, decided she'd be a nurse and is now working her way up the nursing ladder, employed as an LPN and doing well, plans to go on for her RN and on- and she still has that insurance, with some increases in premiums and OOP expenses, thanks to Obamacare, but she's paying her own way now.
Thing is, you never know what will happen. You might get lucky and never get sick, never have an accident or other trauma, but what happens if you do? I'm sure glad we decided to get her that health insurance when she was dropped from ours.
That may well be, if you're healthy. But reading your post reminds me of how happy we were that we obtained decent health insurance for our daughter when she was kicked off our health insurance policy when she turned 22. This was back before Obamacare, there was no obligation regarding keeping the kid on a policy till age 26-(as it turned out, better for us that this was true). She was still in college, a non-smoker, about as healthy as they come, and we debated about her insurance coverage, was the expense worth it, did she need it, would the school insurance work? Well, I don't know whether it was a premonition or what, but I just couldn't see her without decent insurance, so we looked all over and finally purchased a BlueCross/BlueShield of Florida PPO policy and found the rates- less than $200/month for complete coverage (including prescription drug coverage) about as good as they came.
Fast forward about 1.5 years, she developed a life threatening cardiac condition, had to drop out of school, quit her job and move back home. She spent the next 3+ years visiting doctors, in and out of hospitals, procedure after procedure- cardiac and other procedures to rule out other causes, etc, cardiac and other medication, you name it. Her cardiologists ( one regular and one electrophysiologist) told us all that she would die unless they could get the condition under control, and she had some close calls. She ended up with a pacemaker, and a final open heart surgery to finally take care of the condition. I know her medical bills over those years were well over one million dollars, but her insurance company paid their share of the bills with no questions, no problems and timely. We paid her share for co-pays and deductibles, but the saving grace was the $5000 out of pocket maximum each year, which kept things more or less under control for us. I know that without that insurance, someone would have been bankrupt. They didn't increase her premiums or payments ( other than routine increases everyone gets) and they didn't drop her because she cost them lots of money- Florida has a state law prohibiting that- had it long before Obamacare.
She's doing well now, decided she'd be a nurse and is now working her way up the nursing ladder, employed as an LPN and doing well, plans to go on for her RN and on- and she still has that insurance, with some increases in premiums and OOP expenses, thanks to Obamacare, but she's paying her own way now.
Thing is, you never know what will happen. You might get lucky and never get sick, never have an accident or other trauma, but what happens if you do? I'm sure glad we decided to get her that health insurance when she was dropped from ours.
What a great rebuttal to that idiotic screed urging us all to forego health insurance.
Because PEOPLE as a whole, who are trained to be little red hens, PAY IN MORE THAN THEY GET OUT. ALWAYS.
The mega INSURANCE companies make that bet, and they so far have always WON that bet, because (again) THEY ALWAYS PAY OUT LESS THAN THEY GET IN.
.
Always? Really? Did you read about Travellassie's daughter? Do you think the insurance company paid out less than they took in in her case? Do you realize auto insurance works the same way? Sure glad I don't depend on you for advice about insurance of any type.
Always? Really? Did you read about Travellassie's daughter? Do you think the insurance company paid out less than they took in in her case? Do you realize auto insurance works the same way? Sure glad I don't depend on you for advice about insurance of any type.
I KNOW we/she hasn't paid nearly as much in premiums as they paid providers for our daughter's care over the years. That's one reason I can't really complain a whole lot about the increases in premiums for that insurance-it's gone up about $600 annually since Obamacare, but they had actually decreased the premiums several years ago when we/she moved from Miami to SW Florida, because medical costs are less in SW Florida.
I know I'll never be without health insurance- even though at this point I am paying more in premiums than they pay for my medical expenses. I'm sure that won't always be the case!
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