Yesterday I was looking over the additional paperwork that needs to be complete for Obamacare and all I can say is GHEESH, talk about making things harder and more complex. There are at least two new areas that will require calculations and one more tax document that the Health insurer must send to you. I have as of yet to receive mine. What I did not like, and I might be speaking a bit premature as I have not done the final paperwork- just a review- there seemed to be a section that made you have to subtract the lowest health premium you could have opted for from what you actually paid. I guess this could be part of that Cadillac tax stuff they have been going on about in the news. I don't understand how the lowest premium could have a bearing on what a person actually paid. You get the plan that fits your need not the cheapest just because it is cheap. Time will tell, I have a feeling I may need more then just a weekend to do my taxes this year. It just seems that to go for the cheapest plan would mean inherently medical premiums were no where near lower or designed to help people with higher needs. What I did not see and I will look this weekend is an area where you could add itemized medical bills you paid out of pocket. I will review the long form today and see if that too has changed. I am glad I can do my own tax work I can imagine how much this will cost people that need tax preparers.
I haven't even begun to fill out our taxes this year, but I usually use one of the free programs like Turbotax. My whole family is covered under Medicare so i am hoping we don't have to fill out too much extra stuff.
It sounds like Obamacare is a little complicated for you americans. Can anyone explain to me the benefits of this new law?
well gats I am not sure if there are any benefits, at least not ones that are completely apparent to me. I have been struggling with Health Insurance issues since 2005, I use to be self employed and as such I had to pay 100% for my own health insurance. It was very expensive then because you could not get on the lower cost group plans that larger businesses had. I went through the local chamber of commerce health plan and even that was very high. I rode this till 2008, I paid maybe $248 a month for a single plan then, this was before Obamacare and back then a high insurance cost. Finally I made a decision in 2008 to go back and work as someones employee because the health care costs rose so high, I was looking at a bill close to $475 a month for myself. So I worked for awhile for a company and the economy went down the tubes, my hours got cut and I lost my insurance. That year I had a car crash and while auto insurance covered that event, I now was not working and had a per-existing injury that made me a risk. I went on the state healthcare when I exhausted the Cobra this was again nearer the $250 a month mark, no deductible. Okay that was better. I lost that plan with Obamacare, they discontinued it because it did not cover all the things the new law mandated it had to. First year on Obamacare I paid $125 a month with a $500 deductible and a regular co-pay, sounds okay I could live with that. This year the rate went to $189 with a $1200 deductible then co pays after I reach that. I am saying WHAT?? I get like an annual free check up and all the rest I pay plus the monthly insurance so now I have a $3600 medical monkey on my back. I went from paying $2000 a year to $3600 a year. Best case scenario is not to see the doctor and come in at $2400. This saved me how exactly? I feel like it all is just some shell game. You think you can tell which shell has the pearl, but the truth is none of them have it.
Wow, that sounds like a nightmare... I lost my insurance last September and haven't had insurance since. I see there is a hefty fine if I don't get insurance soon... I am not sure what I will do yet. I am working part time, but no insurance through that option, so I guess I will have to shop around. I was quite skeptic when this Obamacare was first implemented, and my concerns have been validated.
Meh. Lack of insurance for the first year is what, 1% of your income? It's so easy to acquire a financial hardship waiver for at least this past year. Plus, I'm full-on self-employed, so it all get deducted from my taxes anyways. Like anything added to the tax code, it takes a little getting used to, but I'm not complaining. It took a few minutes to get through, and then I moved on with my taxes.
As a general rule, if it's not national defense, foreign policy, or perhaps a couple of other things like emergency aid and response, the government is probably going to screw it up if they get involved. Increased taxes, regulations, bureaucratic red tape, inefficiency, etc, etc. Elections have consequences.
Man I am some ways glad I do not have to worry about taxes since I do not have a job. However, in some cases I need to prepare myself when I get to that point I would have a idea what to do. Tax filing is a nightmare and with the different elements that you have to know.
This is why I go to H&R Block to get my taxes done each year, things are too confusing and I don't want to make a mistake and get penalized. I saw that the penalty was like $700 for each person in your family that is not insured, but their are loopholes around this if you can prove that the cost of insurance is more than you can reasonably afford. I also had to do a 1099 form for some self employment income. At tax time, it is almost worth it to be unemployed, you have to pay taxes on everything!
Good god that sounds horrible. I don't even know of a country where it's as complicated as the US. Where I'm from, you just buy insurance, get a card and that's the end of it.
