ACA website is pretty slick...

[CosmicCowboy]

IF it actually goes fully functional on Oct.1.

I was checking it out trying to decide what to do about company health insurance next year. I'm pretty sure I'm giving everyone raises and dropping coverage.

Nice layout and navigation.

https://www.healthcare.gov/families/

[CosmicCowboy]

OK, this part confuses me:


The Affordable Care Act provides a new tax credit to help you afford health coverage purchased through the Marketplace. Advance payments of the tax credit can be used right away to lower your monthly premium costs. If you qualify, you may choose how much advance credit payments to apply to your premiums each month, up to a maximum amount. If the amount of advance credit payments you get for the year is less than the tax credit you're due, you’ll get the difference as a refundable credit when you file your federal income tax return. If your advance payments for the year are more than the amount of your credit, you must repay the excess advance payments with your tax return.

So is the advance credit paid directly to the insurance company by the Fed and you just pay the difference? Is it credited to your paycheck by reduced deductions that are tracked by the employer?

[Th'Pusher]

IF it actually goes fully functional on Oct.1.

I was checking it out trying to decide what to do about company health insurance next year. I'm pretty sure I'm giving everyone raises and dropping coverage.

Nice layout and navigation.

https://www.healthcare.gov/families/
How are you goin to determine how much of a raise to give them?

[CosmicCowboy]

How are you goin to determine how much of a raise to give them?

Calculate it after pricing comes out.

[boutons_deux]

Calculate it after pricing comes out.

as executives often get, will you "gross it up" to cover their loss of income tax deduction for employer-supplied, tax-free health insurance?

[CosmicCowboy]

as executives often get, will you "gross it up" to cover their loss of income tax deduction for employer-supplied, tax-free health insurance?

That will be an element of the calculation.

[ElNono]

Doesn't look you can really do much until October...

[scott]

Good website indeed, thanks for sharing CC.

[AntiChrist]

ACA is to healthcare as this youtube is to animation

E45xOGIcGWo

[CosmicCowboy]

The ACA is kind of like my Obama golf carts. It's bad policy that I would be an idiot not to take advantage of. Most of my employees make about $20 an hour plus benefits so they will fall into the subsidized insurance pool. That's one of the silly things about ACA...it's not adjusted for location. 60K a year is a decent living in Texas but it's dog food poor in New York City but they both get the same advance tax credit. I can enroll my guys in ACA, subsidize their premiums (after the advance tax credit of about half their premium) they get better insurance than I can offer now and by my estimated calculations I save about $40,000 a year. Big win on the personal level, long term unsustainable money pit on the Federal level.

[boutons_deux]

I think the very necessary regional COL adjustments will come later. No program so complex is starts perfect.

"on the personal level, long term unsustainable money pit " aka the USA for-(excessive)-profit health care racket.

[Das Texan]

oh good. as per usual, i get shit for benefits in terms of government handouts.


gotta figure out some type of loophole to have my self employed ass get something out of this thing.

[SnakeBoy]

oh good. as per usual, i get shit for benefits in terms of government handouts.


gotta figure out some type of loophole to have my self employed ass get something out of this thing.



New options for the self-employed

If you're self-employed, you'll have more health coverage options in 2014.

Starting October 1, 2013, you can use the Marketplace to find health coverage that fits your budget and meets your needs. You can compare important features of several plans side-by-side, all of them offering a full package of essential health benefits. You can see what your premium, deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs will be before you decide to enroll.

You can't be denied coverage or charged more because you have a pre-existing health condition.

If you currently have individual insurance--a plan you bought yourself, not the kind you get through an employer--you may be able to change to a Marketplace plan. Learn more about changing individual insurance plans.

The rates are based on income so if you're doing well you're probably better off just getting your own policy.

[Capt Bringdown]

A nice website for rent extraction.
Skin in the game: your skin, their game. Obamacare does not contain costs, and will only deepen worker's risk of medical bankruptcy/precarity. A "disciplined," "flexible" workforce is the aim of all neoliberal policy.


The Obama administration has repeatedly tried to downplay the importance of its decision to delay the employer mandate for a year, but it is actually one of the most significant unilateral actions taken by this president. It will have substantial policy and financial implications next year.

According to the CBO, the move will cost the government $12 billion next year and will increase the projected number of people without insurance by roughly half a million. From the CBO:

As a result of the Administration’s announcement and recently issued final rules, the net cost is now estimated to be $1,375 billion—$12 billion more than previously estimated. The largest change is a $10 billion reduction in penalty payments by employers that would have been collected in 2015. (Penalties assessed for 2014 would have been collected in 2015.) Costs for exchange subsidies are expected to increase by $3 billion. Other small changes, including an increase in taxable compensation resulting from fewer people enrolling in employment-based coverage, will offset those increases by about $1 billion, CBO and JCT estimate. [...]

All told, as a result of the announced changes and new final rules, roughly 1 million fewer people are expected to be enrolled in employment-based coverage in 2014 than the number projected in CBO’s May 2013 baseline, primarily because of the one-year delay in penalties on employers. Of those who would otherwise have obtained employment-based coverage, roughly half will be uninsured and the others will obtain coverage through the exchanges or will enroll in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, CBO and JCT estimate. In particular, fewer than half a million additional people are expected to be uninsured in 2014 than the number projected in the May baseline. -- more -->> (http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2013/07/31/delaying-the-employer-mandate-is-a-significant-financial-and-policy-move/)

[Das Texan]

The rates are based on income so if you're doing well you're probably better off just getting your own policy.



ya i know the rates are based on income. the lower classes get to suck more off the government teet. the upper classes doesnt matter to.

the middle classes yet again get the big fucking cock up their ass, lube not included.