MrsKirkley
MrsKirkley's JournalWalmart Health Insurance
Here's a breakdown of the plans for 2014. All rates I listed are for non tobacco users.
The deductible on the HRA plan for employees is $2,750. For families (including partner and/or children), it's $5,500. After the deductible is met, insurance pays 80%. The annual out of pocket maximum on the HRA plan is $5,000 for employee only coverage and $10,000 for family coverage. Monthly premiums are as follows: $36.80 for a non-smoking employee, $123.80 for an employee and partner, $59 for an employee and children, $147.80 for an employee, partner, and children.
The deductible on the HRA High plan is $1,750 for employees and $3,500 for families (including partner and/or children). After the deductible is met, insurance pays 80%. The annual out of pocket maximum is the same: $5,000 for employees only and $10,000 for families. Monthly premiums are: $122.60 for employee only, $310.40 for employee and partner, $172.80 for an employee and children, and $339.20 for an employee, partner, and children.
Fighting Obamacare subsidies to avoid paying $18 a month for health insurance.
A group of businesses and individuals are trying to get rid of subsidies in states that refused to set up their own exchanges. One individual fighting against the subsidies doesn't want to choose between purchasing health insurance for $18/month or paying the penalty, which figures out to $12/month. His reasoning: If he wasn't eligible for subsidies, he would be eligible for an exemption.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/judge-declines-halt-obamacare-insurance-subsidies-183920540--sector.html
What percentage of yahoo readers don't know "and" isn't the same word as "an?"
I often wonder that when I'm reading comments about someone being "and" idiot or someone making so much "and" hour.
Obamacare's potential negative effect on the next election
Americans in general are very upset about the recent government shutdown and most are blaming republicans. Obviously, that's a good thing since they are to blame, but how long will their anger last? Americans are also upset about the family glitch in the health care law and many are blaming Democrats (I'm always hearing and reading that Nancy Pelosi said pass the law first without reading it to see what's in it. That's NOT what I think, it's what other people are saying). As the health care law goes into effect, more and more Americans are going to discover and be negatively impacted by the family glitch. Those hurt the most will be low income families. Unlike the shutdown, unless the family glitch is fixed, it will impact families all the way up to the next election. Because of the timing, I'm afraid the family glitch will hurt Democrats more than the shutdown will hurt Republicans. Who else is concerned about this?
My problem with the Affordable Care Act
Two years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. At the time, I was lucky to be eligible for breast/cervical cancer Medicaid. I had four cancer-related surgeries and lost my job because my FMLA ran out. (My degenerative disk disease severely limits the type of jobs I'm able to do, which are pretty much non-existent in our area. Now, I've developed bad knees and am unable to pass the physical to go back to work at the place I previously worked for.) When Medicaid claimed I was no longer eligible and gave notice of their intent to drop me, my fiance and I hurried to Vegas to get married so he could put me on his insurance to avoid a coverage gap. Nobody knew at the time if the ACA would make it through the Supreme Court and 2014 was 3 years away. The problem is, my husband is paying for coverage we can't afford to use. He works at Walmart and our deductible is $5,500 and annual maximum $10,000. I haven't seen my oncologist for over a year and I'm supposed to go every 3 months to be monitored for recurrence. I am happy that the new law is helping so many people and I don't want it to go away. But it needs to be improved and I don't see that happening until Democrats regain control of the House. I do NOT blame the Affordable Care Act for refusing to expand Medicaid. I blame the Supreme Court and the state we live in. What I do blame the law for is making family members who are offered health insurance through an employer ineligible for subsidies when their premiums aren't even counted in the 9.5% affordability calculation. The only way for me to be eligible for subsidized health insurance with a 94% actuarial value (meaning I only pay 6% of everything) is for my husband to drop from full-time to what Walmart considers part-time (33 hours or less, which may change to less than 30 hours in 2015). Walmart only offers health insurance for spouses to full-time employees. Several others have shared their experiences, both good and bad, so I thought I'd share mine.
What's the deal with health insurance subsidies?
The Kaiser subsidy calculator http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/ says I'd be eligible for a Silver policy with a 94% actuarial value, meaning I would only have to pay for 6% of everything. The value penguin http://www.valuepenguin.com/ppaca/exchanges mentions nothing about this and has co-insurance rates much higher. So do 94% actuarial policies exist or not?
What happened to the ACA insurance policies with acutarial value?
According to the Kaiser Calculator http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/ people with lower incomes were eligible for policies with certain actuarial values, meaning they are only supposed to pay a small portion of everything. This shortcut http://www.valuepenguin.com/ppaca/exchanges shows much smaller subsidies and no policies with 94% or 86% actuarial values. In fact, the no deductible policy silver plan I saw showed a 50% co-insurance with subsidy! Aren't Silver all plans without subsidy supposed to pay 60%? I thought this new link was supposed to give answers. Is anyone else confused by this?
a question about stocks
A few years ago, my retired father rolled his 401K into a Roth IRA. He also has an Edward Jones account he inherited from my grandmother upon her death. He thinks if there's a default, the stocks will temporarily drop until the situation resolves, then bounce right back. I'm not as confident. I don't know that much about stocks and how a government default could affect them. Is he right? Am I being overly paranoid?
President Obama has set up a meeting with both sides later today
About 20 minutes ago, C-SPAN said the meeting was 2 1/2 hours away. I hope President Obama stands firm and doesn't give in to Republicans the way he has in the past. Of course, it would be even better if the meeting turned into an arrest for extortion.
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: Kansas
Home country: United States
Current location: Kansas
Member since: Mon Sep 2, 2013, 12:08 PM
Number of posts: 180
