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Question re Obamacare & upcoming Calif Health Ins Exchange

buggzzee23 — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:27:23 -0800

Is my income too low to qualify for Obamacare health insurance subsidies? I own my home and other real estate free and clear and am retired with my only income (until I'm eligible for Social Security) is $1200/month in rental income. I'm 59 years old and pay $364/month for Kaiser Permanente health insurance. It's a squeeze for me but it's the insurance I want so I pay it. Everything I've read says Kaiser premiums will increase substantially next year and I won't be able to pay the expected increase. From what I've read, I don't earn enough to qualify for the insurance subsidies under Obamacare and will have to sign up for Medi-Cal/Medicaid.

Is it true I won't be eligible for subsidy?

If I get seriously ill with Medi-Cal/Medicaid, will the governent go after my estate to recover their outlay?

Can I keep it? (My health insurance, that is.)

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:13:38 -0800

Can I keep my excellent health insurance offered through my parents company or do I have to accept the insurance offered through my workplace? In October, I started my first full-time, salaried professional job that offers health insurance and other benefits. I currently have United Healthcare Choice health insurance plan through a parents employer and am very happy with the doctors that I see- some of which I have been seeing for over 10 years. I see specialists 2x/year for checkups and my prescription refills and a mental health provider every 6 weeks. I really like that I don't need referrals for any doctors and when I have gone to the ER in the past (I actually don't have a primary care doc where I now live) it has never been a terribly expensive amount- no more than $500, including xrays.

I am confused as to whether I must accept the insurance through my new employer or if I can keep the insurance that I currently have. I have read that apparently the Affordable Care Act says that you can stay on a parents plan until the age of 26, unless insurance is offered through your workplace. In 2014, the law will change to allow you stay on the parents plan, but at present, you would have to go. I am curious though, how would anyone ever find out? It seems unlikely that I would be kicked off my parents plan- am I right or wrong? But I have also read that it is possible to have 2 different insurance plans-- for example, if you are married, you can have insurance through your plan and your spouse's plan. My friend who is the same age as me but is still in school and does not work (23) has dual insurance through both of her parents. So what is the real story? Can I have both? And if not, why are parent + work plans excluded while spouse +spouse and parent + parent are allowed?

Background Info Since I Am Anon: I asked a coworker what she thinks about our health insurance, and she told me that it sucks and it is likely because we work at a small company. There are less than 20 F/T employees that are based in our office, whereas my parent's company has nearly 100,000 employees worldwide.

The plan offered through my current employer is Oxford Freedom. There are 3 different plans available, Freedom Direct, Access, and Select which cost $153.75, $197.25, and $261.25 respectively. The coworker that I spoke to said that she pays $60!! for generic birth control on the Access plan. I currently pay $30/3 month for generic birth control on mail order and when I used to get generic at the pharmacy, it was only $15. Even when I got the name brand pill, it was only $30 copay!

So obviously, my employer's plan is not good compared to what I currently have and I do not want to change. It only costs an extra $70 2x/month for my parent to add me as a dependent... That $140/month is a better deal than the cheapest crappy plan which is $153.25/month. I know this might sound like a first-world problem, so before I get flamed, I would like to say that I am thankful that I have insurance period, but I really don't want to pay more for less if I don't have to.

I am 23 years old. I live and work in NYS and my parents do as well, although I do not live in their household. I would be writing the insured parent a check for $140 each month.

Bonus question: How would I evaluate whether a plan is good or not? I just compared prices for PCP visits/specialists/ER and the birth control copay above. Is there something I'm missing? I'm not really sure what the deductible is for UHC but we've never had any problem paying for doctors visits so I guess it isn't horribly high (or low... not sure which is best). All but one of my doctors take both UHC and Oxford.

tl, dr: As a 23 year old with excellent dependent insurance and crappy insurance offered through my own workplace, does the Affordable Care Act screw me over? Or am I worrying for nothing-- because I can be covered by both or because no one would ever find out?

Why not let the feds manage your health insurance exchange?

pokermonk — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 07:45:45 -0800

What are the practical advantages of a state setting up its own health insurance exchange, versus letting the federal government create/manage the exchange for the state? Are there particular benefits or drawbacks to one exchange approach or the other that make this a difficult question for some states? What impact does the decision make on the citizens (or health care providers) of a state?

Did They Screw Up the Affordable Care Act?

jonp72 — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:05:00 -0800

Why does the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) lack a severability clause? As far as I understand it, if the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act, then the entire law must be thrown out, because the law has no "severability clause" that allows you to preserve the rest of the law if one portion is declared unconstitutional. What I want to know is why, and who is responsible? I'm familiar with the leftish argument that Obama is a crypto-Republican who secretly wants health care reform to fail, but that doesn't explain why he didn't just sabotage it before passage, instead of going through this Supreme Court dog-and-pony show. Was the lack of a severability clause deliberate? Was it an oversight? Or was it removed as part of the dealmaking to get the law passed? I already have my own opinion about this, so I'm less interested in getting people's opinions on this than on getting some facts that might get me to revise my opinion. Anybody here with inside-the-Beltway, journalistic, poli sci, legislative, or other relevant knowledge who can explain this?

Switch health insurance now or later?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:00:09 -0800

When would be the best time to switch health insurers - now or in 2014? I'm in Northern California. I have an individual policy now with Blue Cross PPO. I hate Blue Cross. I want to switch to Kaiser.

Given what we definitely know right now about laws about health insurance, and what will probably happen with insurance laws between now and 2014, should I try to switch now or later? Thinking about cost of premiums, benefits, ability to make other switches later. I know nobody knows the future but if you have good reasons to believe a particular thing will happen please share.

I have minor pre-existing conditions like probably everybody does. I have had continuous coverage for years.

Asking anonymously because I don't want pre-existing conditions linked to my name.