<p>[UnitedHealth</a> drops thousands of doctors from insurance plans: WSJ](<a href=“UnitedHealth drops thousands of doctors from insurance plans: WSJ”>UnitedHealth drops thousands of doctors from insurance plans: WSJ)</p>
<p>PG, I gotta smile. That’s everything!</p>
<p>Flossy, I read the article. Clearly, it’s not just who pays what. More important is some have freedom to be in and some don’t. That could drive the market dynamics.</p>
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<p>I may have to try that, or maybe have my wife create an account. The problem I am having is I initially provided information for our 27 yr old son, mainly because we did take him as a dependent on our 2012 tax return. However, we will not take him as a dependent on the 2014 return and he has his own health insurance, so I have been trying and trying in vain to remove him from our ACA application. Finally I decided to just start a new application, but the website only allows one application per state. So, I wondered… can I simply delete my application and start over. Seems like a real simple, basic question, right? I used the chat feature to ask that question: How can I delete my application and start over? The response came back that they had to send that question in to some higher level authority and they would get back to me in 3 to 5 business days. I think I will just have my wife create her own account. I hope they don’t red flag that because I included her info in my application.</p>
<p>There’s no more information about the application. All it says is: </p>
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<p>So I have no idea what “in progress” means. I’ll give it a week and if nothing changes, I’ll call the hotline.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, 52% of all bankruptcies in the U.S. are caused by medical situations. But in Massachusetts, they haven’t had anyone go bankrupt because of medical bills in years. </p>
<p>(That doesn’t mean people will get the health care they need. That remains to be seen. But it does mean it won’t bankrupt them.)</p>
<p>NJres, try creating a new account using a new email, and just ignoring the old account with the incorrect info.</p>
<p>I was talking with a group of women yesterday about health insurance. One woman had been considering marriage to her long time live in boyfriend. Her financial advisor advised against it. In addition to becoming liable for potential debts of the boyfriend and other financial considerations, there apparently is a marriage penalty in the ACA. The cut off for subsidies is a lower amount for a married couple than for two individuals living together.</p>
<p>" Her financial advisor advised against it." </p>
<p>I am going to make a wild guess and say most people who qualify for subsidies dont have financial advisors.</p>
<p>Well she did. At her age, you can have assets to protect but little income. There is a marriage penalty for the subsidies. Marriage just doesn’t make much financial sense anymore for many people our age.</p>
<p>Why would the middle aged woman want to marry some guy with debt issues?</p>
<p>I;m glad that the ACA is giving her pause. Who wouldda guessed?</p>
<p>Mini, :)</p>
<p>If I ever remarry, and the woman has debt issues, she better be super hot. :)</p>
<p>There are lots of “marriage penalties”. There were before the ACA and there would be even if the ACA never came into existence.</p>
<p>Why would there be a marriage penalty in the law anyway?</p>
<p>Whether or not a person has a financial advisor is irrelevant. Does the ACA have a marriage penalty? Yes, in some cases, and it also has a benefit in some cases.</p>
<p>If two people who have similar incomes marry, their total subsidies will be the same or less. They could end up losing subsidies, which at older age groups would be hugely expensive.</p>
<p>However, if two people with unequal incomes marry, they can end up saving a lot of money. For example, Ms. Bride has an income of $46K. Her insurance cost is $657/month, because she get no subsidy. Mr. Groom has an income of $15K. He gets a generous subsidy; his insurance is a measly $25/month. The lovely couple marry. Their combined income is $61K, and their insurance is now $483. They save about $200/month. (I used real numbers here, for a couple both aged 55 who live in San Francisco.)</p>
<p>As with all tax matters, you have to work the numbers to find out the facts. With the ACA, there’s a marriage penalty if both singles already qualified for subsidies, and and a marriage benefit in some cases if one single has a low income and the other does not qualify for subsidies.</p>
<p>Two people living together pay one rent rather than two. Living expenses for two together decrease for many items. All that is taken into account when determining subsidies.</p>
<p>mamom, the issue is not “living together.” Romani and her fiance are treated differently if they marry than if they live together unmarried, even though in either case they pay one rent instead of two.</p>
<p>Hold on. I thought nothing was taken into account except income. That could be a plus or a minus depending on circumstances. Assets is the obvious big one.</p>
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<p>Not when I filled out the app it wasn’t. Income was- that was it (and tax breaks, which I didn’t fill out because it would’ve put me below 138%)</p>
<p>I suppose it’s just because it’s too hard to do the paperwork to try and figure out who is co-habiting. That piece of paper down at the county courthouse shows who is married. But you’d think the subsidies for married people would be double that of single people, no?</p>