<p>Hlmom: you mentioned cobra. If your daughter qualifies for cobra then she might not qualify for Obamacare since she is eligible to buy insurance from an employer. Consult a tax expert for the right answer.</p>
<p>To me, the rules seem so convoluted that I still wonder if anybody really understand this. Once the dust settles, I am sure that our brilliant lawmakers will change everything so we can start over again Sigh. So difficult to make decisions when things are in flux.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong. The new law has fixed some major problems with our health system but it hard to see what all the ramifications will be.</p>
<p>From Healthcare.gov: “During the Open Enrollment period you can drop your COBRA coverage and get a plan through the Marketplace instead. This is true even if your COBRA coverage hasn’t run out.” On the other hand, “If you’re ending your COBRA coverage early outside Open Enrollment, you can’t enroll in a Marketplace plan at all, with or without lower costs.”</p>
<p>If your Cobra is expiring, you may qualify for the special enrollment period. </p>
<p>From CMS: …special enrollment periods for QHPs in the Marketplace to persons eligible for COBRA when: (1) such persons initially are eligible for COBRA due to a loss of other minimum essential coverage [eg. job ending, the standard COBRA triggering event]; and (2) when such persons’ COBRA
coverage is exhausted. In addition, COBRA beneficiaries are able to choose QHPs in the
Marketplace during the annual open enrollment period and if they are determined eligible for any
other special enrollment periods outside of the open enrollment period."</p>
<p>It’'s not dependent on Cobra being offered or not. The advice is to make the wise healthcare decision based on cost and health needs. Cobra can be prohibitively expensive. </p>
<p>OP make sure you check that any docs you prefer are included on any new plans you review. In some areas, you need to triple check this.</p>
<p>IRS doesn’t know the value of people’s assets; IRS knows income.</p>
<p>By putting the IRS in charge of determining subsidy eligibility, it reduces the administrative burden. No new government agency collecting financial data on all Americans, and no complicated forms for citizens to fill out listing all of their assets.</p>
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A dollar more or a dollar less can also be the difference between being required to pay AMT and losing all sorts of tax deductions. A dollar more or a dollar less can be the difference between qualifying for an earned income tax credit or not. Outside the tax system, a dollar more or a dollar less can be the difference between qualifying for simplified needs test on the FAFAS, which in turn can result in a huge difference in EFC. </p>
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This is not true – Cobra eligibiity does not preclude eligibility for premium subsidies. COBRA is not employer provided health insurance – it is an elective system whereby a person who is no longer employed is eligible to continue whatever policy their employer provided, but must pay the full premium. In most cases that is not going to give them “affordable” coverage, so they would be eligible for ACA in any case. But there is a specific provision in the law dealing with the COBRA situation.</p>
<p>D could probably get Cobra after aging out from H’s plan but may look into trying to get coverage as an alum of her U. If she doesn’t get a job by June, I will explore these options. We had to figure out how to have as covered after he turned 22 and lost coverage under H’s plan but before the ACA covered him until he turned 26. There was a 16 month gap. We got U ins for 1 year plus some BCBS ins for 4 months. </p>
Some people seem to spend their lives looking for ways to scam the system and brag about it. Seems to be the same people, over and over. Lets see if karma is as it should be. </p>
This is a COLLEGE website first and foremost, DadII. The fact that you manipulated your finances, claimed to be “dirt poor” while bragging about spending thousands on unnecessary luxuries and milking top institutions for many many MANY thousands of dollars is absolutely relevant and should be brought up consistently as an example of what is extremely distasteful to legitimately financially limited posters, and what NOT to do to colleges and in this forum.</p>
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Most do it legitimately, not to manipulate their money and bilk colleges out of thousands, taking the money away from TRULY deserving students and families.</p>
<p>The original question about getting health insurance through the exchanges for $0. I believe this would only be the case if one were below the threshold for subsidies, and lived in a Medicaid expansion state. </p>
<p>I’m not an expert…but someone will surely correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>And…its Modified Adjusted Gross Income that is used. Post above explained that well.</p>
<p>Re: cobra…when my kids aged out of our policies, they were offered this from my insurance carrier.</p>
<p>There are people who can get insurance for $0. These are people whose insurance is expensive before subsidy, who are on the low end of the 100% to 400% qualifying income, and who buy a Bronze plan. But people like that should probably buy Silver, which will also be very cheap and which will have subsidized deductibles and copays.</p>
<p>Yes, when S aged out of H’s policy, he was given BCBS as one option. It wasn’t officially Cobra, but a policy he could get. The coverage was more expensive and not as good as H’s policy but seemed better than the alumni policy he could qualify for. Because our kids have asthma and preexisting medical conditions, I never allow us to be without coverage. </p>
<p>Will have to look into D’s options if she doesn’t have a job by June. Things may have changed significantly from 3009/2010 when we looked for S’s coverage. </p>
<p>If you get a very high deductible plan, make sure you look at your out of pocket costs before you sign on the dotted line. You may find that you are not getting anything but an annual physical, and catastrophic coverage. Your copays for RX, office visits other than annual physical, any medical tests…etc…might not be covered at all.</p>
<p>We just did this dance for with our son. He could have had a policy for $80 a month…but his RX alone would not have been covered until he hit a huge out of pocket cost. </p>
<p>So…do check. You want to make sure your plan is actually paying for,the medical things you need.</p>
<p>We have a subsidized ACA policy. We were happy paying $900/month several years ago. When the premium was hiked to over $1000/mo we increased our deductible and coinsurance which got us a $680/month plan which we were also happy with. Then came the ACA and our plan was cancelled. The new plan had a list price of $1600/month but based on my estimated (low) income the subsidized rate was $360/month. I don’t know what else I could reasonably have done. Declined the subsidy and pay $1600/month? For 2015 our premium went up again, so we switched from a silver plan to a bronze plan to keep our monthly subsidized premium in the $300 range. The list price for this plan - with a family deductible of $11,000 - is over $1500/mo !</p>
<p>In recent years I did a small to medium sized Roth conversion every year that kept me in a low or zero tax bracket so I paid very little tax on the income generated. This year I did no Roth conversion, mainly because of the ACA subsidy. The decision to convert a traditional IRA to Roth is driven entirely by tax rates, current vs expected future rates, so you have to include the ACA subsidy in the calculation. </p>
<p>We did not want to be on Medicaid, which isn’t an option anyway because we live in NC. Based on our subsidy amount there were policies available that would have cost almost nothing (or maybe even nothing) but most of those policies require out of pocket payment for everything including doctor visits until the very high (over $10,000) deductible is met. </p>
<p>My grandfather plan (with a high but manageable deductible and a VERY high family maximum out of pocket cost)increased 20% this year to $640/month. The same plan with the additional ACA requirements (but same deductible and co-pays) is 1,200 a month if purchased without a subsidy. By the time I reach Medicare age the cost would be over 20,000/year in today’s dollars.</p>
<p>For me, the decision was driven mainly by risk management with cost as the secondary driver. With the cost sharing provision of the subsidized plan, my overall maximum cost out of pocket drop from 13,000 to 1,400. While my medical cost are usually close to zero, I also understand that can change in a heartbeat. With this decision, I added the risk that subsidy would disappear but the requirements for complete coverage and the high price tag would remain. ACA did some good things but it also removed our ability to decide what coverage we needed and what risks we were willing to accept.</p>
<p>Did you qualify for the cost sharing provision (income less than 240% FPL). If so, is it worth the savings to drop to a bronze plan? I understand that if the money is not there to afford the silver then it is impossible but if you can afford it , it is worth considering. Just one health issue could easily wipe out the savings of the cheaper plan.</p>
<p>I cannot speak for all states, but in the ones with which I am familiar, the subsidies are for income 138%-400%, 133% of FPL + 5% adjustment. So, a single person needs to have an (M)AGI of $16,105 to get subsidized health coverage and not Medicaid. This is complex as may young people who are working and filing as independents are still living at home and may have the right monthly income, but not the consistency, job change, breaks are taken, etc. Thus far there are no reports of consequences for people who claim in Dec 2014 they will make $16105 and who end up with an AGI of $16103 in April 2015 &I hope it stays that way.</p>
<p>It depends on whether the state is an expansion state. In expansion states, the subsidies are for income 138%-400% of FPL. In non-expansion states, the subsidies go down to 100% of FPL. </p>
<p>Assuming you are talking about a Roth distribution the answer is NO, it is not part of MAGI. (It isn’t “untaxed” – you either used taxed income to fund the Roth or paid tax at the time of conversion – it’s just that you paid the tax in some previous year). </p>