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Mr. Murphy, an engineer in Sulphur Springs, Tex., estimates that under the Affordable Care Act, he will face a fine of $1,800 for going uninsured in 2016.
How does this fine apply to those who just simply cant afford to pay for healthcare coverage?
How does this fine apply to those who just simply cant afford to pay for healthcare coverage?
The fine is income based, but there are subsidies and provisions for those that can prove they can't afford to pay the full premium price. Not being able to afford your premiums because you put too much money into your house or you want to go to Disneyworld instead, doesn't count as "affording" though.
The fine is income based, but there are subsidies and provisions for those that can prove they can't afford to pay the full premium price. Not being able to afford your premiums because you put too much money into your house or you want to go to Disneyworld instead, doesn't count as "affording" though.
Qwerty:
I sure hope no ill wind ever follows you and that you are in a position to not afford healthcare. The presumption that people who cannot afford health care are doing remodeling or scheduling a vacation to Disney is disingenuous at best.
I've paid for auto insurance for years and never had an accident.
I've paid for health insurance for years and never had to be hospitalized.
I feel that insurance should be adjusted in terms of premiums based upon health and usage. I don't feel that I received a good return on paying 10's of thousands of dollars on health insurance over the past 40 years. A huge portion of the premium goes to the agent for commissions - true I know people in the insurance industry.
Same here. At least with auto insurance there are Good Driver discounts when you never put in a claim. Do you get a Healthy Person discount for no medical claims? My last medical claim was for the birth of my daughter in 1984. Insurance paid nothing for my food poisoning trip to Urgent Care a few years ago. It did not meet my $3,500 deductible.
The big difference in comparing not carrying Health Insurance versus Auto insurance, and that is that one requires others to ultimately subsidize that decision, and one does not.
If you don't have auto insurance, and wreck your car, nobody else has to buy you a new car. You must do without.
If you don't have health insurance, and have a serious or catastrophic health event, you can still go to a hospital and get services (to a point). And someone has to cover the cost of those services, so providers shift those costs to others who can (insured patients).
Many people who don't have health insurance can't afford it due to the high costs, but there are also a good percentage who can afford it, and just choose not to.
I sure hope no ill wind ever follows you and that you are in a position to not afford healthcare. The presumption that people who cannot afford health care are doing remodeling or scheduling a vacation to Disney is disingenuous at best.
I've been in the position before, I took a 3rd job before I went without health insurance. If you read my post, I said there was help for those that truly could not afford insurance vs those choosing not to "afford".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Ag 93
The big difference in comparing not carrying Health Insurance versus Auto insurance, and that is that one requires others to ultimately subsidize that decision, and one does not.
If you don't have auto insurance, and wreck your car, nobody else has to buy you a new car. You must do without.
If you don't have health insurance, and have a serious or catastrophic health event, you can still go to a hospital and get services (to a point). And someone has to cover the cost of those services, so providers shift those costs to others who can (insured patients).
Many people who don't have health insurance can't afford it due to the high costs, but there are also a good percentage who can afford it, and just choose not to.
Unless you damage someone else's car....or worse, hurt someone else.....
The big difference in comparing not carrying Health Insurance versus Auto insurance, and that is that one requires others to ultimately subsidize that decision, and one does not.
If you don't have auto insurance, and wreck your car, nobody else has to buy you a new car. You must do without.
If you don't have health insurance, and have a serious or catastrophic health event, you can still go to a hospital and get services (to a point). And someone has to cover the cost of those services, so providers shift those costs to others who can (insured patients).
Many people who don't have health insurance can't afford it due to the high costs, but there are also a good percentage who can afford it, and just choose not to.
Ah, but as another poster and I have said,when you have been carrying health insurance for DECADES and never used it, all that money is being used to subsidize others who run to doctors and the ER with things like the Flu, and now with ACA, all those mandated Free Preventive Care. Nothing is free.
You assume that over all those years it is IMPOSSIBLE to not have a serious or catastrophic health event? Yeah, right. I must have amnesia. Why do you think that the healthy, young people were depended upon to sign up? Not USING health insurance, and subsidizing those who DO.
Unless you damage someone else's car....or worse, hurt someone else.....
Valid point. I suppose I was thinking more along the lines of an oversimplified loss that does not adversely impact anyone else. Getting distracted while texting and running your car off the road, for example.
Last edited by Texas Ag 93; 01-07-2016 at 01:15 PM..
Anyone already on the plan should never have signed up for it in the first place, and everybody knows that it's going to cost more each year. You're better off with an insurance company. And where's that check for the fine going to go to? It's a stupid plan.
The people who signed up through the healthcare websites are with an insurance company.
Ah, but as another poster and I have said,when you have been carrying health insurance for DECADES and never used it, all that money is being used to subsidize others who run to doctors and the ER with things like the Flu, and now with ACA, all those mandated Free Preventive Care. Nothing is free.
You assume that over all those years it is IMPOSSIBLE to not have a serious or catastrophic health event? Yeah, right. I must have amnesia. Why do you think that the healthy, young people were depended upon to sign up? Not USING health insurance, and subsidizing those who DO.
I think you and I are actually saying a lot of the the same things and I agree with your comments above. Anyone's health status can change instantaneously and the high costs of health care can financially cripple them, responsible people know this, and that's why they pay for health insurance, even though they would rather use that money for other things.
As long as the penalties for not signing up are negligible compared to the cost of insurance, why would those young, healthy people (who think they are invincible) do it? And, the longer the imbalance without healthy covered lives goes on, the more funding problems the ACA will have.
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