PPACA Discussion Thread: 2015 If You Like Your Subsidies You Can Keep Your Subsidies

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > PPACA Discussion Thread: 2015 If You Like Your Subsidies You Can Keep Your Subsidies

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; Let's Clock Into The Sunset Together; Fun Shoe

Thanks for the fantastic OP, solid information without being a billion pages long. As a potentially useful link I'd like to suggest The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers Health Care Reform FAQ; The Council is an association of insurance administrators and brokers and the FAQs go into a decent amount of detail on a variety of mostly employer questions. For example:

quote:

II. EMPLOYER TAX CREDITS
PPACA � 1421 (adding � 45R to the Internal Revenue Code)
(Available Only To �Small� Employers -- < 25 Employees)

61. Is the Section 1421 small business tax credit available for tax-exempt small employers?
Yes. There is an explicit provision addressing the manner in which the credit shall apply to such employers.

62. Do we know if an owner is excluded from the average salary calculation and how an employer would actually go about filing for the credit (part of corporate tax return)?
�Owners� are excluded from all of the credit calculation. An "owner" is someone who owns 2% or more of an S Corporation or 5% or more of any other small business. The credit will be part of the corporate tax return.

63. My client's company is a limited liability company (partnership for federal income tax purposes). Do you know how the credit works in this case? Does it flow through to the partners?
We believe it would because partnerships are eligible for the tax credit but we are not tax attorneys so you will have to consult your tax professional for guidance regarding exactly how this will work mechanically.

There's a lot of questions and answers in there both broad and specific that might be a helpful starting point for any posters curious about employer-related aspects and not just us folks on the employee side of the reforms.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2013 19:31

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 03:30

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; Let's Clock Into The Sunset Together; Fun Shoe

Mazzagatti2Hotty posted:

First, holy crap thank you for the well written and informative OP. I understand things a lot better now, and it's certainly helped to ease my vague fear of the unknown regarding PPACA.

I wanted to make sure I understand the quoted part above. So if I meet all of the other criteria to qualify for the penalty and am uninsured throughout the entire year of 2014, I will be charged a $95.00 for the entire year ($42.50 if I start coverage in July)? Or will it be $95.00 per month, so $1140 for the year?

Thanks in advance!

I believe the totals there are yearly, but the penalty is accounted for monthly, hence the bottom line you quoted:

quote:

Also, the penalty is applied monthly. So if you have insurance for 7 months, and no insurance for 5 months, you pay 5/12ths of the penalty listed above. And if you are uninsured for 3 months or less, the penalty is waived.

If you are uninsured throughout 2014, you owe $95 per person, up to $285 for a family OR 1% of income -- whichever is higher; if you are uninsured for 5 months, you owe $39.58 per person, up to $118.75 for a family OR 0.42% of income -- whichever is higher; etc.

Not sure if that division applies to the upper limit or not, I extrapolated as though it does.

e: Went to check the bill text to be certain, those totals are in fact yearly and the penalty is calculated monthly as a fraction of that total:

SEC. 5000A. REQUIREMENT TO MAINTAIN MINIMUM ESSENTIAL COVERAGE. posted:

(2) MONTHLY PENALTY AMOUNTS.�For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), the monthly penalty amount with respect to any taxpayer for any month during which any failure described in subsection (b)(1) occurred is an amount equal to 1/12 of the greater of the following amounts:

(A) FLAT DOLLAR AMOUNT.�An amount equal to the lesser of�

(i) the sum of the applicable dollar amounts for all individuals with respect to whom such failure occurred during such month, or

(ii) 300 percent of the applicable dollar amount (determined without regard to paragraph (3)(C)) for the calendar year with or within which the taxable year ends.

(B) PERCENTAGE OF INCOME.��As revised by section 1002(a)(1) of HCERA� An amount equal to the following percentage of the excess of the taxpayer�s household income for the taxable year over the amount of gross income specified in section 6012(a)(1) with respect to the taxpayer for the taxable year:

(i) 1.0 percent for taxable years beginning in 2014.

(ii) 2.0 percent for taxable years beginning in 2015.

(iii) 2.5 percent for taxable years beginning after 2015.

(3) APPLICABLE DOLLAR AMOUNT.��As revised by section 10106(b)(3) and by section 1002(a)(2) of HCERA� For purposes of paragraph (1)�
(A) IN GENERAL.�Except as provided in subparagraphs (B) and (C), the applicable dollar amount is $695.
(B) PHASE IN.�The applicable dollar amount is $95 for 2014 and $325 for 2015.

Mo_Steel fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Apr 17, 2013

# ¿ Apr 17, 2013 21:06

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; Let's Clock Into The Sunset Together; Fun Shoe

hobbesmaster posted:

I keep seeing these articles and think "Strange, I was able to sign up without a hitch, view all the details of my plans and easily look up the providers allowed by each plan. All the doctors I've gone to are on all the plans too so the networks look good!" Then they always get to Kentucky being one of the only states with a properly working exchange.

How in the world did Kentucky of all places put together something that works?

*I make just over 400% of the FPL so I am not eligible for subsidies. This likely GREATLY colored my experience with the exchange.

The MN exchange site seems to be working alright for me; I set up an account in less than a half hour. I currently have health insurance through my employer so it was mostly out of curiosity to see what sort of rates and plans I would have. As a male in his late 20s, individual plans had premiums mostly between $100 - $200 a month, depending on coverage / deductible and not including any subsidy eligibility.

The fact sheet they provide has a nice, simple chart of expected coverage / subsidies as well:

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 15:42

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; Let's Clock Into The Sunset Together; Fun Shoe

esquilax posted:

What actions do you think the pharma industry would take to deal with a 20% decreased revenue? It's not going to be "we'll take lower profit", it's not going to be "we'll advertise less", it's not going to be "we'll pay our executives less". They have to figure out a way to cut 20% of costs, which will basically prevent them from bringing new and worthwhile but less profitable drugs to market. This means an increased focus on blockbuster drugs and on tweaking current drugs for tiny incremental improvements - basically expanding on the business practices that are criticized today.

Pay the difference in lost R&D via increased government subsidies for R&D to the amount of the difference between our existing spending per capita on prescription drugs compared to the global average among OECD countries with price controls through a progressive tax schedule. The general populace gets access to cheaper drugs, and the more well-off in society cover the difference to make up for the lost R&D.

Alternately, nationalize all medical research and development and release the information as public domain and allow any company who meets manufacturing standards of quality and safety to utilize the publicly available formulas and technologies to sell generics.

--

Is 2015 the earliest states can setup their own Single-Payer systems under PPACA, or can they do that right now?

e: Found it, it's 2017:

quote:

One of the features of Obamacare is the "waiver". The idea is that states can apply for this "waiver" and implement their own plan starting 2017 if this new plan covers more people and is affordable.
So lets take a look at what the ACA says about the "innovation waiver";

quote:
SEC. 1332 �42 U.S.C. 18052�. WAIVER FOR STATE INNOVATION.
(a) APPLICATION.�

(1) IN GENERAL.�A State may apply to the Secretary for the waiver of all or any requirements described in paragraph (2) with respect to health insurance coverage within that State for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2017. Such application shall�

(A) be filed at such time and in such manner as the Secretary may require;
(B) contain such information as the Secretary may require, including�

(i) a comprehensive description of the State legislation and program to implement a plan meeting the requirements for a waiver under this section; and
(ii) a 10-year budget plan for such plan that is budget neutral for the Federal Government; and
(C) provide an assurance that the State has enacted the law described in subsection (b)(2).

Mo_Steel fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Nov 17, 2013

# ¿ Nov 17, 2013 18:48

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; Let's Clock Into The Sunset Together; Fun Shoe

e: ^^^ For what it's worth, I do think opposition to PPACA makes Republicans look bad still, and their repeated attempts to repeal it look like childish stomping. It underlines that they have no interest in helping people without adequate health insurance in any capacity, and I'll take incompetence over maliciousness or ambivalence on this subject any day. People literally die as a result of our lovely health insurance system, so making an attempt at some improvement and doing a poo poo job of it is preferable to either working to actively worsen it or not giving a gently caress about people suffering because of it.

Politically speaking, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the 2014 elections; if it remains a persistent, reported on issue I could see how it might have traction in close races, but I also think it's possible that it'll fade out for the better part of people if they correct the problems going on right now. A year is still a lot of time to shift the discussion away from initial implementation problems and onto benefits of the program and other big topics like Immigration Reform.

Mo_Steel fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Nov 19, 2013

# ¿ Nov 19, 2013 20:59

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > PPACA Discussion Thread: 2015 If You Like Your Subsidies You Can Keep Your Subsidies