Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
Mar 30th 2014, 12:42 pm
#61
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Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 10
Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
Looks like I have a lot of reading and thinking to do. Thanks for all this discussion. I'll read and then try to respond as much as possible / necessary.
Mar 30th 2014, 1:15 pm
#62
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Joined: Mar 2014
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Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
Ok, now I have read through everything, and tried to absorb as much as possible, but this whole issue is so stressful, and bad for my health! That said, think I’ll have to go for bronze, not silver. After much delay, procrastination, and a kind of denial (not wanting to see the $ of what I can’t afford), I’m going to visit the “marketplace” now.
Mar 30th 2014, 2:00 pm
#63
Under blue skies
Joined: Mar 2011
Location: East Anglia->New England
Posts: 3,624
Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
As someone mentioned previously in this thread, US health insurance is great when you're well-to-do or healthy. Otherwise, it's bad news.
Mar 30th 2014, 7:17 pm
#64
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Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 10
Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
Hi again,
I just read this: http://tbo.com/health/household-inco...ants-20131124/ - regarding household / household income, it says, “But don’t include partners who don’t need health coverage”.
So I am confused. It’s hard to feel comfortable that you have coverage that you are entitled to, and that there won’t be a problem later if anything is called into question, when the rules aren’t totally clear.
My wife is getting Medicaid, but I am not entitled to it as sponsored immigrant (permanent resident). So, do I include her limited income in my own “household income”?? But we are two people, in one household, one on Medicaid and one looking to buy health insurance. The lines are very blurry.
I’ve been experimenting with this calculator http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/ - depending on what and whom I include as household / household income, I could be paying between $64 and $200 per month. Really, clear as mud! Of course, I want to go for the cheaper option, but I can’t see which is the correct one to choose.
PS: WEBlue, yes, it’s really not progress, is it! I've been defending Obamacare for a few years, with high expectations. But it's really bad. Business as usual.
I just read this: http://tbo.com/health/household-inco...ants-20131124/ - regarding household / household income, it says, “But don’t include partners who don’t need health coverage”.
So I am confused. It’s hard to feel comfortable that you have coverage that you are entitled to, and that there won’t be a problem later if anything is called into question, when the rules aren’t totally clear.
My wife is getting Medicaid, but I am not entitled to it as sponsored immigrant (permanent resident). So, do I include her limited income in my own “household income”?? But we are two people, in one household, one on Medicaid and one looking to buy health insurance. The lines are very blurry.
I’ve been experimenting with this calculator http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/ - depending on what and whom I include as household / household income, I could be paying between $64 and $200 per month. Really, clear as mud! Of course, I want to go for the cheaper option, but I can’t see which is the correct one to choose.
PS: WEBlue, yes, it’s really not progress, is it! I've been defending Obamacare for a few years, with high expectations. But it's really bad. Business as usual.
Last edited by oliverw; Mar 30th 2014 at 7:39 pm.
Mar 30th 2014, 7:56 pm
#65
Account Closed
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 2
Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
I think you will be treated on the basis of your income and as a single not married.
But who knows?
But who knows?
Mar 30th 2014, 8:40 pm
#66
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 10,678
Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
Hi again,
I just read this: http://tbo.com/health/household-inco...ants-20131124/ - regarding household / household income, it says, “But don’t include partners who don’t need health coverage”.
So I am confused. It’s hard to feel comfortable that you have coverage that you are entitled to, and that there won’t be a problem later if anything is called into question, when the rules aren’t totally clear.
My wife is getting Medicaid, but I am not entitled to it as sponsored immigrant (permanent resident). So, do I include her limited income in my own “household income”?? But we are two people, in one household, one on Medicaid and one looking to buy health insurance. The lines are very blurry.
I’ve been experimenting with this calculator http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/ - depending on what and whom I include as household / household income, I could be paying between $64 and $200 per month. Really, clear as mud! Of course, I want to go for the cheaper option, but I can’t see which is the correct one to choose.
PS: WEBlue, yes, it’s really not progress, is it! I've been defending Obamacare for a few years, with high expectations. But it's really bad. Business as usual.
I just read this: http://tbo.com/health/household-inco...ants-20131124/ - regarding household / household income, it says, “But don’t include partners who don’t need health coverage”.
So I am confused. It’s hard to feel comfortable that you have coverage that you are entitled to, and that there won’t be a problem later if anything is called into question, when the rules aren’t totally clear.
My wife is getting Medicaid, but I am not entitled to it as sponsored immigrant (permanent resident). So, do I include her limited income in my own “household income”?? But we are two people, in one household, one on Medicaid and one looking to buy health insurance. The lines are very blurry.
I’ve been experimenting with this calculator http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/ - depending on what and whom I include as household / household income, I could be paying between $64 and $200 per month. Really, clear as mud! Of course, I want to go for the cheaper option, but I can’t see which is the correct one to choose.
PS: WEBlue, yes, it’s really not progress, is it! I've been defending Obamacare for a few years, with high expectations. But it's really bad. Business as usual.
As the volume of consumers seeking health plans has surged -- there were more than 1.5 million visits to HealthCare.gov Wednesday and more than 430,000 calls to the marketplaces' call centers.
More Than 6 Million Enrolled Under ACA
The goal was for ACA to sign up 7 million by March 31 and suspect that in the last 4 days, they may possibly come very close to reaching that goal if the web sites and call centers can handle the volume.
Last edited by Michael; Mar 30th 2014 at 9:06 pm.
Mar 30th 2014, 10:59 pm
#67
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Joined: Jun 2008
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 10,678
Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
I noticed that you are in New York and their call center number is 1-855-355-5777.
In California, there are over 100 ACA sign up events this weekend. Check if New York is doing something similar and you could attend one of those events to sign up.
As an alternative, you could just sign up the way you understand it and when you file your tax return next year, you may either have to pay back part or all of the subsidy or get a refundable tax credit if you didn't get a large enough subsidy. In fact since the subsidy is based on your projected annual income, that could still happen even if you did everything correctly if your income changed between now and the end of the year.
In California, there are over 100 ACA sign up events this weekend. Check if New York is doing something similar and you could attend one of those events to sign up.
As an alternative, you could just sign up the way you understand it and when you file your tax return next year, you may either have to pay back part or all of the subsidy or get a refundable tax credit if you didn't get a large enough subsidy. In fact since the subsidy is based on your projected annual income, that could still happen even if you did everything correctly if your income changed between now and the end of the year.
Last edited by Michael; Mar 30th 2014 at 11:43 pm.
Mar 31st 2014, 11:23 am
#68
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Joined: Jun 2008
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 10,678
Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
I thought this might happen as the system got flooded in the final couple of days.
Healthcare.gov Currently Down
Healthcare.gov Currently Down
Apr 1st 2014, 1:44 am
#69
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Joined: Jun 2008
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 10,678
Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
“There are a record number of people trying to access HealthCare.gov right now — more than 100,000 people concurrently in the system as of noon."
Last Day Rush Causes Another Malfunction at Healthcare.gov
Last Day Rush Causes Another Malfunction at Healthcare.gov
Last edited by Michael; Apr 1st 2014 at 1:47 am.
Apr 3rd 2014, 5:44 am
#70
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Joined: Jun 2008
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 10,678
Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
Patients may soon get an unprecedented look at how their doctor compares to other physicians, after Medicare announced Wednesday it plans to publicly post billing data for more than 880,000 practitioners.
Medicare to release billing data for 880,000 doctors
Medicare to release billing data for 880,000 doctors
Apr 3rd 2014, 2:59 pm
#71
Under blue skies
Joined: Mar 2011
Location: East Anglia->New England
Posts: 3,624
Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
Patients may soon get an unprecedented look at how their doctor compares to other physicians, after Medicare announced Wednesday it plans to publicly post billing data for more than 880,000 practitioners.
Medicare to release billing data for 880,000 doctors
Medicare to release billing data for 880,000 doctors
Considered the mother lode of information on doctors, the Medicare claims database has been off-limits to the public for decades, blocked in the courts by physician groups. The American Medical Association has argued that its release would amount to an invasion of doctors' privacy.
Apr 5th 2014, 4:48 am
#72
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Joined: Jun 2008
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 10,678
Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
With limited exceptions, insurance companies have stopped selling until next year the sorts of individual plans that used to be available year-round. That locks out many of the young and healthy as well as the sick and injured, even those who can afford to buy without government subsidies.
The health care law allows insurers to keep selling all year. But it also creates the conditions prompting them to stop.
The law, which requires nearly all Americans to be insured or pay a fine, bans insurers from rejecting customers because of poor health. The companies say that makes it too risky to sell to individuals year-round.
"If you didn't have an open enrollment period, you would have people who would potentially enroll when they get sick and dis-enroll when they get better," said Chris Stenrud, spokesman for insurer Kaiser Permanente. "The only insured people would be sick people, which would make insurance unaffordable for everyone."
Even the healthy locked out of 2014 policies now
The health care law allows insurers to keep selling all year. But it also creates the conditions prompting them to stop.
The law, which requires nearly all Americans to be insured or pay a fine, bans insurers from rejecting customers because of poor health. The companies say that makes it too risky to sell to individuals year-round.
"If you didn't have an open enrollment period, you would have people who would potentially enroll when they get sick and dis-enroll when they get better," said Chris Stenrud, spokesman for insurer Kaiser Permanente. "The only insured people would be sick people, which would make insurance unaffordable for everyone."
Even the healthy locked out of 2014 policies now
Apr 11th 2014, 10:10 am
#73
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Joined: Jun 2008
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 10,678
Re: Health insurance, Medicaid and permanent residents?
It appears that some of the states that didn't opt-in for expanded Medicaid will end up with large health care costs. Because of ACA, many people that could not afford health care coverage before, checked with ACA in states that didn't have expanded Medicaid and found out that they were eligible for Medicaid under the old Medicaid coverage or their children were eligible to be covered under the CHIP program. If the state would have opted in for expanded Medicaid, those people would have been covered 100% by the federal government for 3 years and 90% after that but instead the states will have to pay 40% of the cost.
Some 245,000 Floridians were added to the Medicaid rolls between October and the end of February. That's a more than 8 percent increase. The Sunshine State is one of 10 states that accounted for more than 80 percent of the 3 million new Medicaid enrollees under the Affordable Care Act, according to Avalere Health, a market research and consulting firm. But Florida was the only state of the 10 — which include California, Oregon and Washington — that didn't expand Medicaid.
Medicaid Enrollment Rises 8% In Florida
Some 245,000 Floridians were added to the Medicaid rolls between October and the end of February. That's a more than 8 percent increase. The Sunshine State is one of 10 states that accounted for more than 80 percent of the 3 million new Medicaid enrollees under the Affordable Care Act, according to Avalere Health, a market research and consulting firm. But Florida was the only state of the 10 — which include California, Oregon and Washington — that didn't expand Medicaid.
Medicaid Enrollment Rises 8% In Florida
