interactive tool - What does the health care bill mean to me

Pepe SilviaPepe Silvia Posts: 3,758
edited March 2010 in A Moving Train
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sp ... s-for-you/

What does the health care bill mean to me?
The health-care overhaul will change the way millions of Americans get health insurance and require nearly everyone to have health insurance or face penalties. A number of factors - including income, age, location and family size - will determine how it specifically impacts your life. This tool looks at what it could mean for your health coverage and taxes based on your income, family size and current insurance status.
don't compete; coexist

what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?

"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama

when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Pepe SilviaPepe Silvia Posts: 3,758
    what it means to me:
    'You are required to have health insurance. If you don't you'll be required to pay a tax penalty of $695 per year up to a maximum of 3 times that amount per family or 2.5% of household income.'
    don't compete; coexist

    what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?

    "I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama

    when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
    i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
  • FiveB247xFiveB247x Posts: 2,330
    It has no effect on me. First thing that popped in my mind when it said that was "gee how many times do rich republicans think that when voting for their pockets compared to their brain/heart".
    CONservative governMENt

    Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
  • My result if I use my income from 2009 (which was a very bad year for freelancing!):

    "You will receive tax credits to help afford insurance premiums in the new exchanges as well as assistance with deductibles and co-paymens. According to your income and family size, the tax credits will ensure you do not spend more than $3325 on premiums. Your maximum out-of-pocket costs for deductibles and co-payments would be capped at 30% of the total cost."


    If I use the income I hope to have in 2010 :)

    "You will be able to buy health insrance in the new exchange but will not get any subsidies to help with premiums or out-of-pocket expenses"

    Both answers also gave me the blurb Pepe Silvia posted above ^ about the $695 penalty.
  • StarfallStarfall Posts: 548
    What this means to me -

    No effect.

    However it doesn't mention some really important things. For example, if I get cancer, my insurance company will not be able to go through my files and find some technicality or typo and use it to drop my coverage just when I need that lifesaving chemo or surgery. (Ban on recissions).
    "It's not hard to own something. Or everything. You just have to know that it's yours, and then be willing to let it go." - Neil Gaiman, "Stardust"
  • Starfall wrote:
    What this means to me -

    No effect.

    However it doesn't mention some really important things. For example, if I get cancer, my insurance company will not be able to go through my files and find some technicality or typo and use it to drop my coverage just when I need that lifesaving chemo or surgery. (Ban on recissions).
    ditto....
  • They say it doesn't affect me at all.

    But...

    - when I go to the emergency room now with a REAL medical emergency, I won't have to wait in line behind the poor and uninsured people with the flu or colds or cuts or needing a tetanus shot. (and who's paying for that, exactly?)

    - I won't have to see the hundreds of people waiting in line for hours outside the Staples Center every month for the "mobile free clinic" which is something you'd expect in a third-world nation.

    - I'll get to hear more kids playing in the park since more of them will be alive.

    So I'm thinking that I'm getting the sweet end of this deal.
  • OH , and yeah.. if I get cancer, they can't suddenly decide to cancel my policy just when I need help the most.

    So that's kinda nice, too.
  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    That tool doesn't tell me anything.

    I have insurance through work, but we buy my wife's insurance privately. They don't seem to have an answer for that combination.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • decides2dreamdecides2dream Posts: 14,977
    interesting.

    yesterday, i plugged in our #s and go this:
    Your Medicare payroll taxes will increase by 0.9% (from 1.45% to 2.35%) and you will have to pay a 3.8% tax on investment income.

    today, plugged it in again and got:
    You will not pay any additional taxes.


    wonder what changed from yesterday to today. either way i am ok with it. i think this is an important first step. it may be imperfect, but it is a necessary step in the right direction imo.



    as far as insurance, same answer both days:
    There will be no change to your insurance coverage.
    Stay with me...
    Let's just breathe...


    I am myself like you somehow


  • Pepe SilviaPepe Silvia Posts: 3,758
    i read somewhere the fine won't reach the $695 or 2.5% mark until 2016, i think it was
    don't compete; coexist

    what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?

    "I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama

    when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
    i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
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