Community Chat

[SilleeMee]

@momtochloe 

My state has their own marketplace. I had to sign up through the state website and that's where I had to list a broker. My insurance did not come from the Healthcare dot gov site. It came from our own marketplace where the subsidy (ACA tax credit) is applied.

[Anonymous032819]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

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@Anonymous032819 wrote:

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@SilleeMee wrote:

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@Anonymous032819 wrote:

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@Goldengate8361 wrote:

And, this is bad because........?

Do you really know how little $11,000 is?

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That's LESS than $1,000 PER MONTH.

I'd like to see anybody here try to live off of less than $1,000 per month.

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You would be surprised to know there are people who do live on less than that. They do what they can to make ends meet. 

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And trust me, they are NOT living high off of the hog.

They are struggling.

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No, not high on the hog but comfortable enough to afford to buy cigs, booze and go out to eat in restaurants just about every other night. Point is...it's taxpayer's money they're spending on stuff that is normally not covered with foodstamps or any such programs.

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No system is perfect, and no system will ever be perfect.

Are there some who cheat the system?

Sure, but they are NOT the majority.

If someone is only making $1,000 per month, then trust me, they are not driving Bently's and taking luxury vacations.

Say rent is $500

Utilities - $200

Gas for their car $100

Child care $200

There's you're $1,000 gone.

And that is real life.

But, I guess you would rather have people, children, babies starve, just so you can sleep at night knowing that your tax dollars weren't helping "the scammers".

And no, there isn't enough beds in shelters, or food at food pantries, or food at soup kitchens to help them all.

I'd rather help the majority even if a few are scamming the system, because as I said, no system is perfect, and no system ever will be, but it is better than nothing, unless nothing is exactly what you want.

No help for anybody.

[bathina]

If you know people scamming the system and you don't report them, you're part of the problem.

[SilleeMee]

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@bathina wrote:

If you know people scamming the system and you don't report them, you're part of the problem.

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The problem is it's difficult to prove it.  Easier said than done.

eta- And yes, I did make an attempt to report the issue(s) I know about but nothing has changed. That was over two years ago.

[Lipstickdiva]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

So if you qualify to purchase ACA insurance, that comes with such high deductibles so when you go to a doctor you still have to pay out of pocket and that's where the ACA falls short. Low-income people don't have enough money to pay the deductible. They might as well go without insurance...same thing.

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@SilleeMee, it's not just ACA insurance policies that are like this.

One of my co-workers gets insurance through our employer.  the employer pays the minimum they are required to pay by law towards her insurance and she has to pay the rest.  She had 3 plans to choose from.  She had to pick the cheapest to afford it and it's still astronomical per month and her deductible is $10,000.00.  It's like having a catastrophic plan.

[haddon9]

  Up until May (when I finally got on Medicare) I had an ACA plan.  My plan cost almost $1,000.00 a month!...

Never mind....at first glance I thought that it was maximum income not minimum.  

[Mindy D]

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@NYC Susan wrote:

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@Mindy D wrote:

If you make under a certain amount you are not allowed to buy any ACA plan even if you want to pay for 

the plan yourself. You must earn or have income of at least  $12,140.  Suppose you have savings and want to use that money? Sorry, no.

‘Minimum Income

In addition to the maximum income to receive the premium subsidy, there’s also a minimum income to get accepted by the ACA marketplace. If your estimated income is too low, the ACA marketplace won’t accept you. They send you to Medicaid instead. In 32 states plus Washington, DC that expanded Medicaid, the minimum income is 138% FPL. In states that didn’t expand Medicaid, the minimum income is 100% FPL. Here’s a map showing which states expanded Medicaid and which stated did not: Current Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions, Kaiser Family Foundation.”

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@Mindy D wrote:

If you make under a certain amount you are not allowed to buy any ACA plan even if you want to pay for 

the plan yourself. You must earn or have income of at least  $12,140.  Suppose you have savings and want to use that money? Sorry, no.

‘Minimum Income

In addition to the maximum income to receive the premium subsidy, there’s also a minimum income to get accepted by the ACA marketplace. If your estimated income is too low, the ACA marketplace won’t accept you. They send you to Medicaid instead. In 32 states plus Washington, DC that expanded Medicaid, the minimum income is 138% FPL. In states that didn’t expand Medicaid, the minimum income is 100% FPL. Here’s a map showing which states expanded Medicaid and which stated did not: Current Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions, Kaiser Family Foundation.”

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How do you think someone with that income could pay for health insurance?  Sure, they might have savings, but I'm sure it's preferable to have free health insurance so whatever money they have can be used for other things - like food, clothing, utilities, etc.  And money in savings would be depleted pretty quickly if it had to be used for health insurance.  

Not having to worry about paying for health insurance is a good thing.  One less bill - especially for something so important - eases a huge burden.  This policy makes perfect sense.

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The reason for this mandate was supposed to be because those low income people would not need an ACA plan because they would be eligible for Medicaid but it has turned out that there are many states in which they would not qualify for Medicaid. Some states expanded Medicaid, but even in this states, many don’t qualify under those requirements. There are also plenty of people that have savings but not income that can not buy insurance even though they can afford to do so.