Obamacare

[arlean]

Assuming this new bill is not defeated in court (several lawsuits are being filed in various states) does anyone have an opinion whether this will affect expats living here who no longer maintain any residence in the US of A?

 

[SaraSara]

Those lawsuits seem just for public show, a bone politicians are throwing at angry Tea-Partiers.

From what I've read, taxes will not be increased for those making less than US$200,000 a year.

 

[marksoc]

My experience as an Israeli (being Israel a country with full Universal Health Insurance in place, see to believe, incredible level of care, almost free), is that I simply asked for a form where I stated that I'm no longer a resident of the country since I live in Buenos Aires, and voila, I don't pay anymore social security (since I cannot reap the benefits).
Maybe there will be a similar thing for the US.

 

[citygirl]

If you are a legal resident here, you should be exempted. If however you are not, it's unclear what will happen.

 

[arlean]

Okay, thanks. What I read was that Americans would have to actually buy and pay for insurance and if you didn´t want to do that, there was a penalty that had to be paid. Didn´t say anything about any income specs. I have not read the bill. I went looking for it on the Internet. So far I just found articles about it. Thanks for your input.

 

[SFMike]

"According to Tom Rose, chairman of the Association of Americans Resident Overseas‘ Committee on Social Security and Medicare, the legislation doesn’t have any effect on Americans abroad, except that it exempts them from the penalty for not subscribing to health insurance in the United States. “That is only logical as most Americans abroad have coverage in their country of residence,” Mr. Rose said.
Similarly, the Web site of the American Citizens Abroad organization pointed out that, as of January, neither the House nor Senate bill would tax Americans abroad for not having insurance in the United States, and both “specifically exclude overseas Americans from proposed mandatory U.S. health insurance coverage.”


What The Health Care Overhaul Means for Americans Abroad (NYTimes.com)

 

[fred mertz]

obamacare is going to be administered by the IRS. Maybe this is a reason why the census will not question expats and will include all citizens regardless of where they live? What about "expats" who are away from the U.S. for 8 months of a year? The word logical and the expression common sense can never be applied to this administration.
The future of medical care will never be compared with Israel´s, it will be compared with cuba´s. LOL, Americans.

 

[SaraSara]

obamacare is going to be administered by the IRS. Maybe this is a reason why the census will not question expats and will include all citizens regardless of where they live? What about "expats" who are away from the U.S. for 8 months of a year? The word logical and the expression common sense can never be applied to this administration.
The future of medical care will never be compared with Israel´s, it will be compared with cuba´s. LOL, Americans.

Perceptive, intelligent, and well-reasoned post, totally free of prejudice.

 

[Ries]

The truth-
Yesterday during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman made clear that all these claims are nothing but misinformation. He said that, essentially, Brady’s analysis was premature because the IRS is still figuring out the resources it will need “to implement the tax provisions” in the health care legislation. He also completely refuted the notion that IRS agents would be going after people to see if they have acceptable health care:

REP. RON KIND (D-WI): And IRS agents are not going to go out and auditing taxpayers to verify if they have obtained acceptable health insurance, will they?

SHULMAN: No. … t’s probably worth me being very clear because I think there have been some misconceptions out there. The way we envision this working is that HHS, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the exchanges will be working with the insurance companies to determine what is acceptable coverage.

All that will happen with the IRS is similar to a current 1099 where a bank sends IRS a statement that says “here’s the interest” someone owes, and they send it to the taxpayer. We expect to get a simple form — that we won’t look behind — that says this person has acceptable health coverage. There are not going to be any discussions about health coverage with an IRS employee.

Shulman added that the role of the IRS is going to be “the tax portions of this, not the health portions of this,” including helping educate individuals and businesses learn about the tax incentives they qualify for.

 

[jaredwb]

Ok, for those above that actually believe taxes won't be increased...WAKE UP!! aside from the actual TAX INCREASES in the bill...and there are many (and yes, I actually read the bill, unlike congress)...if you don't buy insurance you pay a TAX (but they want to call it a "fine").

Either way, IF you are a U.S. citizen you are REQUIRED to pay the fine or have insurance. Still don't worry, it WILL be defeated in the Supreme Court.

Jared