Just posting this important info for those who have individual insurance.
“People who can’t find insurance for less than 8% of income are exempt from the penalty.”
Assuming you’re willing to roll the dice on being uninsured…
If I were to get pig-headed and either not get health insurance, or get a non-compliant short term or catastrophic plan, my penalty would be 2.5% of my (only) personal income? The household income (me + spouse)? That is, H is insured with a compliant plan, and I am not. Hypothetically.
It confuses me, even without a glass of wine! 
@Cardinal Fang Thanks. I get no benefit from claiming my daughter as a dependent. The issue is that I have no idea if she will be an dependent next year nor do I know what her income will be. However, I need to make the decision now on what to do.
I guess I could not claim her as a dependent. I might be lying but the chance of getting caught is probably low. Then the only risk is that she does not make enough to actually earn the subsidy.
I could lower my income (legally) if necessary. I am still looking into that.
@noname, check this but I’m pretty sure that you are not legally required to declare an adult child as a dependent on your tax return even if they are. Also I believe that if you do not declare an adult child as a dependent for insurance purposes their income does not count as part of your income.
The penalty is computed on the household income. It’s about 2.5% per uninsured family member.
Not sure I can explain this clearly. Maybe Fang or Calmom can check me.
“What is the best way to handle the situation where your student graduates in May? I currently get a subsidy. If she finds a job, her income will be added to the household income (assuming I declare her as a dependent) resulting in us losing the subsidies. Her job could mean losing 20K+ in subsidies which could be more than her 2018 income.”
@noname87 If she’s a dependent at least through graduation, why not project her as a dependent for 2018? Then, when she gets a job (a life event, presumably with coverage,) rather than add that income bump, you amend the application, dropping her. At that point, you’d get a chance to review your own options, as your household size and income adjusts.
I went through something like this with D2, who earned maybe 7k between grad and December 31, 2014. I used that figure in projecting the next year. In many discussions with my exchange, they thought this reasonable. The proviso was, when her job/income status changed, we report that.
IIRC, when the 1095-a for 2015 came out, with its month by month calculations, it reflected that change, after Feb.
CF- I’ve always had a different deductible and OOP max for in-network and OON.
We got a letter from the CT exchange telling us that we’d be automatically renewed if they don’t hear from us by 12/1, altho we have until 12/15 to pick a plan. How does that make any sense? They’ve just given us 2 fewer weeks to decide. I knew last year that choosing an exchange plan when we don’t get subsidies would cause problems, but we had no choice since our off-exchange premium would’ve gone up 40%.
Shell, in my case, different state and before I got Medicare, they did that. It showed online, too. But when you make your choice before deadline, they adjust. I think they said it’s to get things started.
Above, 186, I should have noted my D got her job the following Feb. So that year’s 1095-a showed 2 or 3 months in the household, the rest not.
I’m worried about what DS needs to do. He’s overseas until June and has coverage through his overseas school. When he comes back, can he enroll in something here at that time? For 2018 will he be considered “covered” for the months he had insurance overseas?
@lookingforward, One thing that is unclear to me is if she gets a job with insurance then how is that handled. It is a life change so I know we can make changes. However, in that case, is her income from that day to the end oy the year added to our household income? The instructtions for Form 8962 do not seem to address this.
Once she gets her own coverage with an employer, I would crunch those numbers. Really…it just might be better for her NOT to be a tax dependent on your return at that point.
Once she gets the big job, you’d lose her as a tax dependent on that year’s taxes. It’s a weird thing to wrap your head around. You start with her as a dependent for exchange purposes, but ultimately (if she’s fully employed, at the salary level that concerns you,) file taxes without her. But the 1095-a, (from the exchange,) details by month.
If she has a job with coverage, you drop her. None of her income is then part of the household’s. You revert to your income, your choices. Ime, I changed to a better/less $ plan.
And during this joint period, she doesn’t have to live with you. But all this, you carefully verify. One source is who to include in your household, from healthcare.gov.
Under the ACA, he is not required to have any insurance while living abroad. When he returns to the United States, he is eligible to enroll in insurance.
It’s my understanding that moving is a qualifying event (allows one to sign up for health insurance outside of open enrollment).
It’s also confusing because the exchange uses projections, which you can modify as needed, in a calendar year, while the IRS is a lookback at the year as it turned out to be.
The IRS relies on the 1095a. Look at a sample.
I have no issue not claiming her. I get no real benifit claiming her. The issue is if she is not a dependent then she needs to buy her own plan on the exchange (is that correct?). Can she do that even though she is not currently employed and won’t be until after May?
My orginal thought was to have her buy her own plan on the exchange assuming that was not a dependent. The risk would be that she would not meet the income level need to qualify for the subsidy. At that point she would have to repay the goverment which would be costy since the exchange is basically a high risk pool with rates that reflect that.
The next option is to claim her and keep her on our plan also from the exchange. The risk is that her income (assuming she finds a job) would push the household income off the cliff. However, we do have some flexability to manipiulate (legally and above board) our income.
Third option is buying the school plan. That plan is costy and does not have the same level of coverage but doesn’t have the draw backs of the first two options.
I am not trying to game the system. I am just trying to make sure she has the insurance she needs.
Thanks. I didn’t realize this was possible. I guess I wasn’t paying attention. So then I guess it’s possible to sell a plan as a PPO when it has a $100,000 deductible on out of network care.
I’ve never had an OON deductible quite that high, but it’s usually at least double, and many times more, of the in-network deductible, plus the OOP max is significantly higher.
I didn’t realize that the legal maximum out of pocket amount didn’t apply to out-of-network care, even with a PPO, which people buy precisely because it covers out of network care.
I have to check the off-exchange prices, which Blue Shield doesn’t post online, but I’ll probably buy the Bronze PPO anyway because the PPOs are the only ones that have our doctors in network. But it’s getting more and more attractive to switch doctors and just go to Kaiser.