<p>I’m obviously not the demographic for the rap ad but it’s a heck of a lot better than the creepy Uncle Sam ads put out by Generation Opportunity. </p>
<p>[Creepy</a> Uncle Sam: Anti-Obamacare Ads Hit Where It Hurts | TIME.com](<a href=“http://nation.time.com/2013/09/19/spread-your-legs-for-uncle-sam/]Creepy”>Creepy Uncle Sam: Anti-Obamacare Ads Hit Where It Hurts | TIME.com)</p>
<p>“Is the Univ of Teaxs in Austin covered under any individual plans?”</p>
<p>Interestingly, Austin has no medical schools and thus no affiliated hospitals although UT Austin has 3 medical schools under the system (Houston, Galveston, Dallas) and UT San Antonio has one in San Antonio. </p>
<p>UT is planning to start one in Austin probably in an year or two.</p>
<p>Hi folks. </p>
<p>Can you confirm something for me?</p>
<p>$20,000 gross salary</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Kid can choose any color plan and get a subsidy towards PREMIUM cost.</p></li>
<li><p>Kid can ONLY choose silver if she wants a subsidy on out of pocket costs?</p></li>
<li><p>The MAXIUM out of pocket cost is only subsidized if you choose silver.</p></li>
<li><p>Kid can lower costs by contributing to an IRA? Is there any penalty associated with this?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you to anyone willing to just give me a yes and no as I know somewhere in these pages it has been covered.</p>
<p>I especially want a confirm on #2. As I totally missed that or forgot it while reading the thread.</p>
<p>Having seen both videos - the creepy Uncle Sam and the fake Pres Obama - they both are entertaining and weird at the same time. ;)</p>
<p>
For many people nanny=babysitter. Childcare costs shouldn’t be surprising when both parents work, and $800 is a lot of money in one shot for a middle class family with children. And wasn’t the ACA supposed to help working families by making healthcare costs regular, reasonable and predictable? I am surprised to see this family being judged because it would seem that, by signing up promptly, they were showing the actual need for health insurance reform and there would be some concern for the incompetence of the current reform throwing the finances of these responsible people into disarray. It wasn’t supposed to create more problems for the people who needed the reform and attempted to timely avail themselves.</p>
<p>Yesterday my neighbor got a cancellation letter and is freaking out. She was obviously one of those who mistakenly though if she liked her plan she could keep it. Anyway, they are a family of 4 with income around 90K and no assets with the possible exception of a small savings and while I don’t know all the details I do know they narrowly avoided bankruptcy last year and have two kids in college on some financial aid and loans. The husband works on commission and happens to be good at his job and works like 65 hours a week and the wife took a part-time retail job when the lids started college. He had expensive a scary health problems a few years ago but is doing okay now but I’m also guessing they got further behind financially back then. They live in a nice house and drive old cars. I know they have a mortgage because they just refinanced and home prices around here are way below what they probably paid 10 years ago. None of that is relevant, of course, but it’s part of the whole picture.</p>
<p>So, employer insurance is available through the husbands work and that’s what he has but the others were on a private plan because it was roughly half the price. That was canceled yesterday. So, now the question is can the 20-year old son sign up for Medicaid on his income from a summer job. That’s around 7K. The wife would buy the policy that costs the least so they could continue to live month to month and hope she doesn’t get sick and have to face deductibles and unaffordable drug costs. The husband works for a very small employer so whatever they do he expects to be dropped next year anyway. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I have a feeling these are some of the fall through the cracks people. because even with the son out of the picture it looks like they will do much worse under ACA since she did a quick check and said the cheapest thing she found was $150 a month more than she pays now and it was an HSA with a high deductible. I can’t even believe they got a letter yesterday telling them they have to solve this by Dec 23. </p>
<p>What a mess.</p>
<p>I am glad zoosermom made comment about nanny. There are a range of day care providers - whether they live in or out of your home, you drop the child off at someone else’s home or a day care center. They might even be a relative. You can call them whatever you want, and good ones don’t come cheap. </p>
<p>If you write them a check and it bounces, odds are good their checks will bounce, too. </p>
<p>If you work and have young kids, this is reality. Child care providers are probably also living paycheck to paycheck. </p>
<p>You might be surprised how many people do live this way, no matter how much they make. It isn’t how much you make, but how much you keep after paying all your bills that month.</p>
<p>My kids daycare 15 years ago was 12-hundred dollars a month for 2-kids full-time. It was my entire salary at the time.</p>
<p>Additionally, even people who don’t live paycheck to paycheck don’t keep a lot of money in checking. An unexpected deduction of $800 can cause a cascade of consequences to just about any family. I don’t live that way and no longer have childcare expenses, but in the week that I pay multiple tuitions, having someone unexpectedly take $800 out of my checking account would be a problem for me, and with multiple tuitions to pay, our savings right now aren’t what our income would suggest.</p>
<p>actingmt-- Do you live in a Medicaid expansion state? If you do, your neighbor’s son will be able to sign up for Medicaid, because he earns less than $12K. Or if he is at an out-of-state college, he can sign up in that state if it is an expansion state.</p>
<p>Your neighbor, though, is going to have to buy insurance at the going rate or get the insurance from the husband’s employer.</p>
<p>The couple will be better off, a lot better off, next year, if the employer cancels their insurance.</p>
<p>(And I can’t believe that the insurance company sent out a letter giving the family one week to find new insurance. Aren’t there regulations prohibiting that? Maybe those regulations differ by state.)</p>
<p>Sax-- everything you say is right. The kid gets a premium subsidy for any metal color, but out-of-pocket subsidies and a lowered deductible only for Silver. The kid can raise the subsidies (lowering the premium and out-of-pocket) by contributing to an IRA. </p>
<p>Most people at that income don’t have any money left for an IRA because of frivolities like the landlord and the heating bill, but if the kid has generous parents and is sure he won’t need that money for the next 30 years, he can reduce his health costs now. It is legal for parents to give $28K per year to an adult child without triggering gift tax. If the child lives with the parents, “rent” and food are not part of that 28K, though cars and expensive vacations do count as gifts.</p>
<p>Zoosermom, there is overdraft protection available.</p>
<p>Texaspg, do you know the Austin area?</p>
<p>I don’t live there…</p>
<p>Texaspg, ok. Thanks.</p>
<p>Sorry, calmom, I misremembered what you had said about where you lived.</p>
<p>Do you need some research on Austin?</p>
<p>CF - They are in a Medicaid expansion state and the son’s biggest health concern is getting hit by a bus so although she was taken aback by the Medicaid suggestion I do agree it’s probably their best bet for now.</p>
<p>Next year, who knows? Since the husband does have health problems and specific doctors and drugs etc. that could be the next issue. It’s just really sad to see them facing another stupid setback. Thanks.</p>
<p>Dstark, thanks for that kind bit of information. I would never, ever have known. (Yes, this is sarcastic eye-rolling). Again, $800 is a lot of money and people just getting by often don’t have overdraft protection, I am very surprised by the lack of compassion shown to the very people that the Act was created to help. I wonder if that could be because compassion wasn’t top of the list of reasons it was enacted in the first place.</p>
<p>I don’t think I pay any bills by letting the merchant/payee debit my checking account. They all want to do it, and I always say no. I either pay by credit card or use online banking where I enter the amount and authorize the payment each month. If I forget, then my bill is late and I pay late fees, but I am not going to let any… whoops… might have paid my federal income taxes that way one year 
but that was a onetime authorization.</p>
<p>Overdraft protection is to protect me from my mistakes in my checking account, not to lend me money if somebody else gets hold of my checking account. That is exactly why I declined overdraft protection and unlinked my checking and savings accounts. I thought, what if somebody manages to put through a fraudulent debit and funds just kept getting added to my checking account from the bank?</p>
<p>Texaspg, I might. :)</p>
<p>I will do some research. No big deal. I have time. </p>
<p>If you or other posters knew Austin from the top of your heads, that would have been nice.</p>
<p>Edit: Zoosermom, your last post is ridiculous.</p>
<p>I don’t think this in an overdraft protection issue. Maybe, they just don’t have another 800-dollars. At the end of the month some people really don’t have any money left over, already. The only compassion seems to be for the uninsured which is very strange IMHO.</p>