AP Discovers Unfairness in Obama Care
[C]onsider a hypothetical example of two neighbors on the same block. They are both 62 and have the same income of $39,500 a year. But one gets all his income from working, while the other gets $20,000 from part-time work and $19,500 from Social Security. Neither of them gets health insurance on the job. Instead, they purchase it individually.
Starting in 2014, they would get their coverage through a new online health insurance market called an exchange…. The neighbor who is getting Social Security would pay an estimated $206 a month in premiums. Half of his income from Social Security, or $9,750, would not be counted in figuring his federal health insurance tax credit… So he would get a bigger tax credit to offset his premiums. But the neighbor who makes all his income from work would not be able to deduct any of it. He would pay $313 for health insurance, or about 50 percent more.
The disparities appear to be even greater for married couples and families in which at least one member is getting Social Security.
I think this is only the beginning of the unfairness in Obama Care.
This is just one more example of the arbitrary nature of subsidies in the Exchange. People in different areas of the country get different subsidies. Depending on whether you get coverage on the job changes how much subsidy you get.
Am I supposed to be surprised that there is unfairness in Obama Care???
If your retirement income is low enough (at age 62), are you then put in Medicaid rather than an exchange plan?
Perhaps the AP reads this blog.
I find the language in this sentence particularly amusing:
“Other officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the issue is politically sensitive, said the administration is concerned because the situation could create a perception that some people are getting a worse deal compared with their less-industrious peers.”
They are worried about the perception of this occurring, not the fact that people who ARE less industrious than their peers are getting a worse deal.
I just received a letter from the largest employer in the state of S.C. that I will be required to prove that my husband is not offered health benefits at his place of employment and if I am to continue to carry him on my plan I will have to pay $140 more a month! This is communism!