Obamacare: I Need Advice

[sergio]

I called the Obamacare 800 number to get a price for what health insurance would cost me if I go back to live in the US permanently. The rep explained that to see if I might qualify for a discount while I am unemployed and looking for a job, I have to apply and give a lot of personal data. I am just inquiring. I don't want to raise any red flags and risk losing my overseas tax exempt status -- I am not too trusting. What's your view? If I fill out the on line application I'll go onto a data base. Will that compromise me? I repeat: I am just inquiring at this point.

Here is the monthly cost of the cheapest plan available for me. There is a $6,000 deductible -- so if no discounts for being unemployed I would have to put out over $12,000 USD before I got any insurance coverage at all! Doesn't sound "affordable" to me....Anyway, what do people think about filling out that application to see if I might get a discount?

APPLY​

DETAILS​

Monthly premium

$549/mo
One enrollee

 

[che]

I am not sure that anyone can answer your questions as to what happens once you are in the govt database. I doubt it would impact resident status. If you are out of country 11 months then the location test takes care of you.

We also researched extensively to find out the deal in case we move back. Like you we find it totally unaffordable.

In DC the silver is $1200 month to cover adults and a child. The deductable for silver is $12K. Assuming we earn about $100K then health care could easily eat 25% of gross earnings. Surely not affordable.

So we looked to FLA. There silver monthly is $800 and deductable also $12K. So we would svae $4K annual vs. DC on montlhy if we live in FLA. Still with deductable it eats about 23% of gross earnings.

I am finding for those of us who work and earn around $100K there is no affordable plan. The only good deal is to be under employed or unemployed and take the handout. Or we could divorce so we are two separate individuals filing and then we could get a subsidy as each of us maybe would be under 50K.

There are plenty of others here who will tell you how good it is. It seems those with the loudest voice here are unemployed or under emplyed or have pre existing condition and are un employed or under emplyed, thus it looks great from their perspective.

Suerte!

 

[ghost]

You are looking at this wrong. $6000 deductable comes into play for parts of your healthcare. However if you chose a Silver Plan for example you would pay 25$ for a doctor visit, 35$ for a specialist and 10$ for a prescription. If you are unemployed your monthly premium would be somewhere between 50 and 150$. Whatever info you enter in the site is not going to effect your tax status you are perfectly free to live abroad and carry US insurance. In fact many do.

 

[Eric2005]

I checked and rates are high

 

[legilber]

I'm an independent contractor here in the US and pay my own health insurance for my family and I. We were able to continue on our current plan until June 2014, and then have to switch over to Obamacare, si o si.

When my husband called to get us into the marketplace, so we could check out the prices, every question he asked was met with an, "I don't know, or you'll have to check with someone else," response. A total mess.

Bottom line, it is going to be more expensive than what we are currently paying. Higher deductibles and an incredible out-of-pocket amount. It most certainly not is "affordable" despite what supporters are saying. They say that you shouldn't be paying more than 10% of your income in healthcare but for anyone that earns more than 400% over the poverty line is SOL. Just consider anything from obamacare as catastrophic insurance.

Here is a subsidy calculator that my healthcare rep sent to me: http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/

Everything is very fuzzy still and that's why we chose not to switch on January 1. I think the next few months will really show what consumers will be paying.

I'm a dual citizen of Canada and the US. For a long time, I wanted to stay in the US because of the high taxes they pay in Canada. Now, I'm going to sit down and calculate it out on how much we're paying for healthcare vs. how much in taxes we would pay in Canada. I have a feeling that it will be about the same..

 

[wineguy999]

I'm an independent contractor here in the US and pay my own health insurance for my family and I. We were able to continue on our current plan until June 2014, and then have to switch over to Obamacare, si o si.

When my husband called to get us into the marketplace, so we could check out the prices, every question he asked was met with an, "I don't know, or you'll have to check with someone else," response. A total mess.

Bottom line, it is going to be more expensive than what we are currently paying. Higher deductibles and an incredible out-of-pocket amount. It most certainly not is "affordable" despite what supporters are saying. They say that you shouldn't be paying more than 10% of your income in healthcare but for anyone that earns more than 400% over the poverty line is SOL. Just consider anything from obamacare as catastrophic insurance.

Here is a subsidy calculator that my healthcare rep sent to me: http://kff.org/inter...idy-calculator/

Everything is very fuzzy still and that's why we chose not to switch on January 1. I think the next few months will really show what consumers will be paying.

I'm a dual citizen of Canada and the US. For a long time, I wanted to stay in the US because of the high taxes they pay in Canada. Now, I'm going to sit down and calculate it out on how much we're paying for healthcare vs. how much in taxes we would pay in Canada. I have a feeling that it will be about the same..

Self employed? Health care for you and your spouse is deductable.

 

[che]

You are looking at this wrong. $6000 deductable comes into play for parts of your healthcare. However if you chose a Silver Plan for example you would pay 25$ for a doctor visit, 35$ for a specialist and 10$ for a prescription. If you are unemployed your monthly premium would be somewhere between 50 and 150$. Whatever info you enter in the site is not going to effect your tax status you are perfectly free to live abroad and carry US insurance. In fact many do.

You are looking at this wrong. $6000 deductable comes into play for parts of your healthcare. However if you chose a Silver Plan for example you would pay 25$ for a doctor visit, 35$ for a specialist and 10$ for a prescription. If you are unemployed your monthly premium would be somewhere between 50 and 150$. Whatever info you enter in the site is not going to effect your tax status you are perfectly free to live abroad and carry US insurance. In fact many do.

Mayeb to you the posted is "looking at it wrong." But that surely is not a fact. Perspective may be everything here.

How is it a benefot of Bama-care for the privledge of paying a doctor 25 bucks. I prefer to pay the doctor directly. It would be less epxensive than paying a monthly fig of $800-$1200/mo so I can pay a doctor 25 bucks.

With regard to specialists, maybe its 35 bucks assuming you can find one that will see you. If the specialist's reimbursement is not high enough, such as those who under bronze or medicaid, there is no guarantee you'll get care b/c no doctor will take your bama-care insurance.

So I don't see how paying $800-$1200 month for the right to pay a co-pay is a good deal.

And if I get hurt who pays? I do up to first 8-$12K deductable. Tht is what insurance should cover i.e that which I cannot afford. Most can afford a hundred bucks to go see a doctor. But if I don't have an extra $8k-$12k in the bank to cover deductable, then what?

California 70% of doctors are not taking bama-care insurance. Bama-care is not health care - it is mandatory insurance. And it is expensive insurance at that, unless of course you are unemployed or under emplyed.

 

[legilber]

Self employed? Health care for you and your spouse is deductable.

Right now, yes, I'm able to write off my premiums as a nice deduction and I use an HSA for any out-of-pocket expenses. What we were told when we called Obamacare is that we will now only be able to write off any expense past 10% of my AGI. The woman we talked to was, for lack of a better word, a complete IDIOT. We have a meeting with our accountant this month and we're hoping that she will shed more light on this as I really do hope that we're able to keep writing it off..

 

[dennisr]

Maybe? use the Washington State web site, not required to give personal info to get an estimate. Do not know if this helps, but.....

http://www.wahbexchange.org/index.php?cID=472

 

[Ries]

I am perplexed by people who find "Obamacare" suddenly unaffordable.
I have been self employed, and paid for my own health coverage, for 35 years.

Blue Shield/Blue Cross became unaffordable to me about 15 years ago, when premiums for my family of four went above $600 a month, in the late 90's.
I have been on Group Health in Washington State, since then. My pre-obamacare, December bill, was $965 for the month, with a $3500 deductible.
My point being, any real health coverage, pre-obamacare, was in the same ballpark as the new coverage, maybe 10% or 20% less.
if you were really only paying half of the obamacare amounts, I wonder what the fine print on your policy was.

My new, "obamacare" coverage is with exactly the same doctors and plan, but has lower deductibles, and, since both my sons are old enough to be eligible for subsidies, will actually be CHEAPER.

But even if I was paying full freight, its only a bit more expensive than before, but with lower deductible and better coverage, mandated under obamacare.