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I've brought up the "no discharging medical debts in bankruptcy" idea before (among several other "penalties") as an alternative if they want to amend the law to keep those who complain about the individual mandate quiet.
I am seeing more and more providers not writing off debts as a result of the ACA. In the past, people without insurance in lower income brackets would have resources to either pay off medical debt or the providers (hospitals mostly) would forgive that debt. I personally know of a few people that chose not to take health insurance because they did not want to pay the premiums (couldn't "afford" the premiums but found money to buy cigarettes, concert tickets, car payments for their brand new Suburban SUV, etc.) and ended up needing emergency surgery (one was for a gall bladder). The hospitals wrote off those costs (the gall bladder person was $34,000 and posted on Facebook that they had forgiven that). Now, you aren't seeing that as often because people are supposed to have insurance. They might waive some of the out of pocket costs for patients, but they are not totally wiping out the debts as much.
One friend, makes $30,000/year at her job, pays $45/month for her plan, with a max out of pocket of $1500 after subsides.....the plans are there whether you know about them or not.
I call BS on this. $45 a month?! Yea right. My plan is a silver $0 deductible for $165 a month. I make $28K yearly. This plan is only good at the Banner hospitals. I was looking at plans for a higher deductible, and the absolute cheapest I found was around $140 a month.
I call BS on this. $45 a month?! Yea right. My plan is a silver $0 deductible for $165 a month. I make $28K yearly. This plan is only good at the Banner hospitals. I was looking at plans for a higher deductible, and the absolute cheapest I found was around $140 a month.
Plans vary by state. Your state may be different than the state cited in the post above.
I call BS on this. $45 a month?! Yea right. My plan is a silver $0 deductible for $165 a month. I make $28K yearly. This plan is only good at the Banner hospitals. I was looking at plans for a higher deductible, and the absolute cheapest I found was around $140 a month.
That's nice, but each state is different and living situations are different as well. Age, family size, etc. all factor into your subsidies. She is a family of 3, sole income earner, other family members are on Medicaid, for which they pay $19/month each because of their income/situation. If you do the math, your $0 deductible costs less than her plan does...
OK yes. I see your point. I didn't consider that. Does Arizona have something similar to the premiums being dependant in-part by how many in the household?
OK yes. I see your point. I didn't consider that. Does Arizona have something similar to the premiums being dependant in-part by how many in the household?
Age, number of people in family, household income are criteria for everyone in every state. Go to healthcare.gov. The only differential is your zipcode. Otherwise, the questions are the same.
Is it worth it? Well, do you have a few hundred thousand in the bank to handle a health crisis?
I was healthy too - until I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer at 23 years old. No risk factors, no family history of cancer whatsoever, and less than half your age. Luckily, I had insurance (though I had been uninsured just 4 months prior) because my medical bills alone in the past 4 years have amounted to over $500,000. And that's not counting additional expenses like OTC meds, transportation, taxis, parking at the hospital, etc. Had I lost my job and salary due to the illness, it would have been worse.
You can feel perfectly healthy and get cancer. Or get hit by a bus tomorrow. What would you do then? Even if charity assistance cut your bill by half or down to a quarter, it could still be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Again, I am not saying that rare occurance of a terminal illness isn't impossible. But even if you do not use Medicaid, you know they are tallying up the monthly bill for you JUST TO HAVE IT right? I mean you owe your house either way after your death, even if you never actually use the medical insurance one time. Hundreds of dollars accumulating into thousands after so many years
Us getting further involved with the IRS beyond taxes isn't an option. But... we just heard of Medi-Share Christian Health Care Sharing Ministry, it seems cost effective. Now if he would only become a Christian We are attending church, and i am praying
The subsidies here in California are awfully expensive imho, especially for us as I have a private employer plan and the ACA wants to charge us $100 more per month when my husband applies for a plan on the exchange without me. As I stated already.
My reasoning again- "To to take a precautionary loan out on our house to be snatched after we diejust in case we need medical care beyond our means isn't wise at all imho" Get on medicaid at age 55 thru age 64 is a guarantee to loose your home, or impact the value greatly if you remain on a plan you may never use one time. IMHO, people just don't understand this part imho.
Last edited by OutdoorsyGal; 07-28-2015 at 09:23 PM..
Hopefully this WILL be an option when we need it next year, my husband attends church with me now I've been praying
$65 Bronze Plan+ $25 for Brothers keeper for Him- $93 per month.
There are annual fees I included in the price too ^^^so this is the total cost
Bronze program
$45 per unit, (per person) per month
At the Bronze level, you have a $5,000 personal responsibility per incident. In other words, you need to pay $5,000 (or receive at least $5,000 worth of discounts on your medical bills) per incident before CHM helps share your expenses. You can receive assistance up to $125,000 per illness.
[CENTER]Bronze plus Brother’s Keeper[/CENTER]
Signing up for Brother’s Keeper provides an additional $100,000 of cost support. With each annual Brother’s Keeper renewal, members receive an additional $100,000, accruing up to $1 million per illness.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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We live in high cost of living state so income may appear high, but definitely isn't. We don't qualify for subsidies.
I worked in the health insurance industry for years and I was forced to have a High deductible plan years ago. These plans are AWFUL. I have NEVER had a preventative visit covered at 100%. I have never had insurance pay a single claim (other than a portion of my preventative care) because we NEVER met the deductible.
If I bought into Obamacare now, I'd pay $12,000(!)/year AND have a $6,000(!) a year deductible. No thanks. I'll keep my $18,000. Instead, I bought a catastrophic plan that is ridiculous inexpensive. I pay for my own care using the money I would have spent on premiums and deductible. My doctors are wonderful and I have agreements worked out with them. They seem to prefer my cash payments and actually offer discounts. If something horrible happens, the catastrophic plan kicks in until the next enrollment period. I also have good insurance through my auto insurance.
FWIW< you can also buy specific coverage insurance, too. Cancer run in your family? They have a policy for that.
The penalty is less than insurance for me. I qualify for an exemption, though. Furthermore, the IRS doesn't have the teeth to even enforce the penalty, but I'm not sure how that will play out.
Well After seeing these posts I can say that I do have a tremendous amount of medical issues but the ACA is quoting me premiums of $467 a month on up. the problem is the insurance never covers anything because I never reach the deductible, so if someone can please tell me what the point is of having this insurance is, I would deeply appreciate it. I mean, there should be some benefit in paying premiums, don't you think? I just can't figure out how they figure this is the affordable care act. In order to get a plan that actually pays anything I am starting out at $844 a month. Is that affordable? Ha!
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We are attending church, and i am praying 
