Unaffordable Care Act

[Frostbit]

[Michele]

I'm pretty sure God said we should have obamacare.

[Novaheart]

A woman in Florida complained that her premium would increase 1000%. Fox News had a look at it, and come to find out it's a good thing she didn't get sick with her old policy, because it was worthless. They were charging her $57/mo for crap noncoverage. Also, it turned out that she was eligible for a variety of products, an adequate one costing $209/mo.

I agree that Obamacare is crap. It's what happens when Congress sells out to lobbyists and doesn't do what is right. As John Stossel said a long time ago, Hong Kong had a simple tax plan and a Single Payer healthcare system. It worked.


Hong Kong is one of the healthiest places in the world.[1] Because of its early health education, professional health services, and well-developed health care and medication system, Hongkongers enjoy a life expectancy of 85.9 for females and 80 for men,[2] which is the third highest in the world, and an infant mortality rate of 3.8 deaths per 1000 births, the fourth lowest in the world.[3][4]

Hong Kong has high standards of medical practice. It has contributed to the development of liver transplantation, being the first in the world to carry out an adult to adult live donor liver transplant in 1993 wiki

[gary m]

I think that this has been debunked in various articles and forums.
If someone were to link to actual IRS regulations or Federal law from a government site, I might look into it.
As I see it so far, I think it is just disinformational BS spewed so that when it gets passed around it becomes someone's gotcha moment like
"These morons are so stupid, they actually believe this"

[Norm dePlume]

A fine of 8% of their income and a lien against their home isn't true? No shit.

[Michele]

Obamacare: Penalties And Exemptions


There are few contemporary issues which have garnered as much attention and created as much frustration as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a.k.a., Obamacare. In addition, given the recent website snafus, this frustration has risen substantially. Obamacare also ranks high on the political scale chiefly because it bears the name of our president. However, if it were to fail, it would likely leave a rather unpleasant legacy. Therefore, we can expect that President Obama will do everything possible to insure its success.

Obamacare is also a highly charged political issue. Moreover, there are individuals on both sides of the debate who seem incapable of engaging in an objective dialogue. Rather, when confronted with the facts, the typical response is often nothing beyond a few “talking points” or some irrelevant debate strategy designed to deflect the original issue. It’s been said that good debate makes good TV, but it also detracts from the true issue and only serves to confuse the public. Due to an abundance of misinformation, confusion abounds. Also, constant partisan bickering has caused Americans to hold Congress in record low esteem. But I digress.

In previous articles, we have discussed Obamacare’s provisions, taxes, and a few other aspects. However, we have yet to discuss the exemptions which certain individuals may be able to claim to avoid its punitive, non-compliance penalties. In this article, we’ll examine the penalties as well as the exemptions.

Obamacare Penalties

A law without consequences is like a Chihuahua without teeth. It may bite you, but it probably won’t do much damage. Obamacare most certainly contains teeth and for those who don’t comply, and fail to obtain an exemption, penalties will be imposed. The following table contains the tax penalties or what proponents prefer to call a “shared responsibility fee.”



Beginning in 2014, absent a qualified exemption, you will be required to obtain health insurance. If you fail to comply, you will be subject to a penalty of 1.0% of your annual income or $95.00, whichever is greater. In 2015, the penalty increases to the greater of 2.0% of annual income or $325 per person. The following year it becomes the greater of 2.5% of income or $695 per person. After 2016, it will be indexed to the cost of living. It should also be noted that the maximum penalty is capped at three times the per person penalty. For example, if you earn $28,500 in 2014, 1.0% of your income would equal $285. Therefore, if you earn more than this, your maximum penalty would remain the same. All penalties will be due and payable with your annual federal income tax return. Hence, the penalty for 2014 would be due by April 15, 2015 and the IRS will be the collection agency used.

Exemption From Non-Compliance Penalties

Certain individuals will be exempt from Obamacare. According to the website, healthcare.gov, you may qualify for an exemption if:

• You’re uninsured for less than 3 months of the year;
• The lowest-priced coverage available to you would cost more than 8% of your household income;
• You don’t have to file a tax return because your income is too low;
• You’re a member of a federally recognized tribe or eligible for services through an Indian Health Services provider;
• You’re a member of a recognized health care sharing ministry;
• You’re a member of a recognized religious sect with religious objections to insurance, including Social Security and Medicare;
• You’re incarcerated, and not awaiting the disposition of charges against you; and
• You’re not lawfully present in the U.S.

It should also be noted that if your income is less than 133% of the federal poverty level, you will be relieved of this penalty. At first blush, the exemptions seem to focus on the poor, those in prison, Native Americans, and illegal immigrants. There is, however, another list of qualified exemptions.

Hardship Exemptions

This is the list I suspect holds the greatest potential for loop-hole abuse. You may qualify for a hardship exemption if:

• You were homeless;
• You were evicted in the past 6 months or were facing eviction or foreclosure;
• You received a shut-off notice from a utility company;
• You recently experienced domestic violence;
• You recently experienced the death of a close family member;
• You experienced a fire, flood, or other natural or human-caused disaster that caused substantial damage to your property;
• You filed for bankruptcy in the last 6 months;
• You had medical expenses you couldn’t pay in the last 24 months;
• You experienced unexpected increases in necessary expenses due to caring for an ill, disabled, or aging family member;
• You expect to claim a child as a tax dependent who’s been denied coverage in Medicaid and CHIP, and another person is required by court order to give medical support to the child. In this case, you do not have the pay the penalty for the child;
• As a result of an eligibility appeals decision, you’re eligible for enrollment in a qualified health plan (QHP) through the Marketplace, lower costs on your monthly premiums, or cost-sharing reductions for a time period when you weren’t enrolled in a QHP through the Marketplace; and
• You were determined ineligible for Medicaid because your state didn’t expand eligibility for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

Exemption Loopholes?

When laws are passed, clever avoidance strategies often follow. Let’s consider hardship exemption number three. A person could delay payment to their utility company, receive a shut-off notice, pay their bill before their service is disconnected, and use the shut-off notice to apply for a hardship exemption. I checked to see if this would negatively impact ones credit score. The answer depends on whether your utility company reports shut-off notices to the credit bureau. Then, I called a major utility company and was told they only report disconnect information to the credit bureau, but not shut-off notices. Therefore, as long as the customer pays their bill before the utility company disconnects their service, they could conceivably use the shut-off notice as a hardship exemption without impacting their credit score or having their service interrupted. However, if enough people did this, I could envision Congress passing a law requiring utility companies to report all shut-off notices to the credit bureau. More regulation often begets more regulation.

Let’s consider exemption number eight. You go to the doctor or hospital, incur a medical expense not covered by insurance, and fail to pay it. Of course, this would affect your credit score. But how would the federal government determine if you’re reason for nonpayment was due to financial inability? Will they audit your cash flow for the previous two years? In short, there would have to be a massive expansion in federal government employment to properly monitor the tremendous number of rules and regulations contained in Obamacare. Remember, the population of America is over 316 million!


More at Link

[Gramps]

The government a long time ago got it's distal middle phlange up the electorates collective anus.

We are now about to experience the metacarpal ......

Next will be Federal Anal Fisting

[deudyurondame]

Amazing that something on the internet may not be true.

Better part is, if you like your internet, you can keep it.... OK, that depends on certain conditions.