Posted on 02/24/2016 12:38:16 PM PST by Red Badger
Okay, I've posted very few vanities during my time on FR, but this I believe is important for all FReepers and their relatives, who may be in the same situation.
I signed up for health insurance as required under The Affordable Care Act, using the Healthcare.gov website in November of 2014. Up until that time, my employer provided my family health insurance at no cost to me, but because of the new law was unable to continue doing so for financial reasons.
At that time, the Healthcare.gov website, after having entered my base salary numbers and my wife as sole dependent, informed me that I was eligible for a $1002 Per Month Advance Premium Tax Credit (APTC) as the 'subsidy' is called officially.
My part of the premium to my insurance company, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, was $532 per month.
The year 2015 was a good one for my employer, and I worked a lot of overtime, evenings, Saturdays and even Sundays sometimes. Then, at the end of the year I received a large bonus for all my efforts and good work.
Now, 2016 rolls around and I get my W-2 and received my form 1095-A from the Healthcare Marketplace stating all the money paid by the government to my insurance company and what premiums were paid in total.
I have no investments, other than my 401k Plan, and no rental property or any pensions or such. My wife doesn't work and my only income is from my job.
I get the IRS 1040A and start to fill it out, expecting to pay some extra taxes, since the bonus would have thrown the bi-weekly tax schedules used to determine your Income Taxes during the year a little off.
Having had health insurance all year I did not expect to have to pay any more than that.
BUT, as I continued to fill out the 1040A, and subsequently the Form 8962 that you use to report the APTC on your tax return, I was in for the biggest shock of my entire life.
Filling out the 8962 form, I discovered that I was no longer eligible for the APTC because I had made too much money during the year! According to the form, I had made more than 4X the Federal Government's Poverty Level and therefore would not be able to claim the APTC on my 1040A tax return.
Not only that, but I would read that as a result of that, NOW I WOULD HAVE TO REPAY THE ENTIRE YEAR'S APTC THAT THEY HAD GIVEN TO BC/BS in my name!
That amounts to $12,024.00! Yes, you read that right, OVER TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!
Needless to say, I was, and still am in shock! My wife is hysterical. She's afraid we'll lose the house and be out in prison!
We would have been BETTER OFF NOT HAVING ANY INSURANCE AT ALL for 2015!
The 'FINE', or 'MY FAIR SHARE' as they so ridiculously refer to it in the tax instructions, would have been less than $2000.
So, if anyone asks me what I think about OBAMACARE, I will unequivocally tell them in no uncertain terms that it is the worst disaster ever created for a working man in the middle class.......................................................End of rant, and my apologies to Jim Robinson and the Mods for my vanity.............................
Yeah, it’s there:
https://www.healthcare.gov/reporting-changes/why-report-changes/
“How to make updates when your income or household change
If you’re enrolled in a Marketplace plan for 2016 and your income or household change, you should report the changes as soon as possible.
These changes — like higher or lower income, adding or losing household members, or getting offers of other health coverage — may affect the coverage or savings you’re eligible for.”
We tried to report an income change and had our policy cancelled immediately after clicking the button to report the change. After waiting on hold, talking to numerous clueless individuals, repeat a few times, we got a policy again. Now, the form we received to submit to the IRS to prove we had coverage only shows we had it up until the time we got cancelled. More waiting in hold, talking to clueless individuals...
If you talked to one of those marketplace advisors, then you probably weren’t told about reporting income changes. We talked to a couple of them, and we knew more than they did. One also gave us incorrect information about going on cobra - she said we could do that for the 1 month gap between employer coverage and Obamacare. I found out once you are on cobra, you are ineligible for Obamacare until the next open season. It would’ve cost us a fortune because the cobra was even more than Obamacare.
I feel very qualified to be a marketplace advisor after dealing with healthcare.gov, LOL. It’s just not a job I’d want. But if you have any questions, etc, I’d be happy to help you. For 2016, they probably used your 2015 income to determine your premium - so if you’re not going to work so much OT, you could either get your premiums reduced by providing your January paystubs or get the lump sum back when filing your taxes next year. But if you were eligible for a cost savings reduction plan with your pre-OT income, you’d miss out on the lower deductibles by waiting.
“Any money that would have affected the AGI would have to have been deposited by December 31st 2015.”
True since you have a 401k. However your wife can contribute up to $5000 in an IRA ($6500 if over 50). I know this because we are doing the exact same thing. I have until April 15 to fund an IRA and I am waiting to finish our taxes to see how much I need to contribute so our AGI is at the threshold we told them.
Correct. The BCBS rep didn't say anything about it. All he wanted is his commission............
sorry, that should’ve been $5500 for an IRA. but then you’d have to have the money available plus not need it until your wife is 59 1/2.
I’m sorry you got hit with being punished for working hard. How frustrating!
I got an answer to my question about APTC relief in tax year 2015. 2015-9 was only for tax year 2014. There is no such relief in tax year 2015.
read later
Yes, I found that out, as well. B^(...................................Isn’t ObamaCare wunnerful?..................
Walking into a temporary mall kiosk and taking what's immediately available on premise? I'd be dubious, and won't do that again.
I walked in to HRB once, when I had an unusual situation that I needed handled RIGHT. For sure. Always had relatively simple tax filings before that.The first person I spoke to said frankly that she only handled the forms that I was accustomed to doing myself. She passed me off to a very competent gal who gave complete satisfaction. I ended up staying with her for a few years, but then she moved on, and I did likewise.
I reached a point where I went back to HRB, but was assigned to an affirmative action hire who turned something reasonably straight forward into a royal lashup. And hit the “send” button before we could tell what was what. As the famous boxer put it, "No mas."
Surprising???
The last two lines he told people very clearly in the speech on October 30th, 2008 and they gobbled it up unfiltered, drinking the Jim Jones like Cool-Aids!!!
Any further questions???
There was no doubt that Obama was wrecking everything, smiling all the way, with useful idiots cheering him on.
Our poor fellow FReeper was caught in the trap.
I’d say I’m surprised but I’m not. A lot of ill Americans might not survive the implementation of this beast, Obamacare. And they’re just fine killing off older voters who remember the way America used to be.
I predict millions of Americans will wind up in bankruptcy court over Obamacare, even if it is repealed next year.
The system could overload, easily. All part of the plan. Death by 1,000 cuts. And yet there are fools and idiots who still can’t figure out what this clown is up to.
And Hillary was cheering him on after they struck their deal in 2008. Quid pro quo. She became Secretary of State, furthered The Clinton Foundation and Obama put another acolyte into the DOJ to look the other way.
There’s probably more than a couple of reasons Comey was sweating that “announcement”.
These are not people struggling with disasters in their lives like many of us; this is a scheme operated by a whole lot of folks. And those who know are afraid to speak out.
I don’t claim to be clairvoyant and I am certainly not the smartest man in this little county here let alone the whole country but I did say before this mess was passed into law that it would be an absolute disaster and far from being the “free” healthcare that so many thought they were going to get the end result would be NO HEALTHCARE for anybody and that certainly seems to be the way it is headed. No one ever should have believed that it is even possible that it could ever have been anything other than a disaster. Putting the government in charge of healthcare is like putting Bernie Madoff in charge of financial planning.
There are those of us STUCK with Medicare and Tricare Life, IF we add even vision, dental or hearing coverage it voids the Tricare Life which is Medicare’s secondary. So we pay full price out of pocket for hearing aids, dental, and vision.
My glasses alone are $650 if I need new frames, just to get a crown glued back on is $100. Hearing aids were $3400 and they are not high end. Cleaning the oil glands of my eye lash line was $160 as Medicare/Tricare Life does not cover that Dry Eye medical procedure even at the Eye College. The other procedure was $900. And it has to be repeated at least yearly. And all those eye drops come out of my pocket that I am forced to use, NO ONE TELLS you cataract surgery produces DRY EYES or ASTIGMATISM!
I’d be happy with just a co-pay to help. I don’t expect everything free. But I’m sick of paying for illegals and refugees getting more health care than I can get with 2 RATIONED health care plans.
If you’ve never told this story before, I think there is another FReeper with a similar story. Some unforeseen income made him or her need to PAY BACK his subsidy. Insane.
There should be no subsidies parceled out like this. Health care should be like clothing or food. You should pay the market rate, and there should be a fulll market of services and practitioners mushrooming up with different prices, just as boxes of cereal or eggs or apples all have a range of prices.
If you don’t have a health share for yourself and your wife, I HIGHLY recommend you look into them. All FReepers qualify (under the beliefs clauses of self reliance and Gd — they might not qualify with poor health tho). I have Liberty for the last two years and I am deeply grateful for them.
https://www.libertyhealthshare.org
Only $500 a month for 6 people. After $1500 (total) is paid, they will pay 100% of our Med bills. From any doctor or health care practitioner in the country. No meds or mental health is paid, nor cosmetic surgery. Or abortion or sex transition surgery, dang. ;)
We are very happy with them. We live in the rare world of actual medical costs, we doctor shop, procedure shop, refuse unnecessary doc-cya tests, and are good medical consumers.
(Crimson cheeks)
This is an old thread. No wonder I remember this. And I already mentioned health shares a 100 posts ago. Shucks.
Thanks for relating your experience. The media and even our folks on Capital Hill act as if, “What would we do without it?”, as if it’s the best thing ever.
One of the things I like about the forum is the ability to post vanities from time to time.
I like that FReepers are the ones drawing our attention to issues.
The article, if done well, use FReeper English to present the issues. There’s very little of the hat-tip tactics used by the MSM, generally none.
You explained this situation well, and I think anyone here could understand it, empathize with you, and grasp one more very big reason Obamacare was/is a disaster.
Thanks for the post.
Not only that, but I would read that as a result of that, NOW I WOULD HAVE TO REPAY THE ENTIRE YEAR’S APTC THAT THEY HAD GIVEN TO BC/BS in my name!
That amounts to $12,024.00! Yes, you read that right, OVER TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!
...
It’s not healthcare. It’s not health insurance. It’s a tax.
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