Less people with insurance now than before obamacare

http://www.caintv.com/as-2014-begins-more-americans

Go figure

Bump for the silence from the progressive leftists

The real goal was to take from some to give to others... so insuring the uninsured and uninsuring the insured is par.

Congratulations leftists. I can't wait for income equality, open borders, and a fully centrally planned economy.

PkrBum wrote:The real goal was to take from some to give to others... so insuring the uninsured and uninsuring the insured is par.

Congratulations leftists. I can't wait for income equality, open borders, and a fully centrally planned economy.

  

I just noticed they raised the cap for deducting premiums too.

From 7.5% of income to having to exceed 10%.

Makes the fine (tax) more attractive for some.

Perhaps the leftists can't defend this CACA law?

One of the primary goals of ObamaCare is the redistribution of wealth.  A very high priority for President Barack Hussein Obama.

stormwatch89 wrote:I just noticed they raised the cap for deducting premiums too.

From 7.5% of income to having to exceed 10%.

Makes the fine (tax) more attractive for some.

ohhhhhhhhhh that slipped right in quietly now didn't it.   

and I agree, I don't think the leftist here can defend this admin anymore.

Markle wrote:One of the primary goals of ObamaCare is the redistribution of wealth.  A very high priority for President Barack Hussein Obama.

Except when it comes to a redistribution of his own wealth.

He should practice what he preaches.

*****CHUCKLE*****

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2QbDlvgHw8

  

Chrissy wrote:

stormwatch89 wrote:I just noticed they raised the cap for deducting premiums too.

From 7.5% of income to having to exceed 10%.

Makes the fine (tax) more attractive for some.

ohhhhhhhhhh that slipped right in quietly now didn't it.   

and I agree, I don't think the leftist here can defend this admin anymore.

Amazing the efforts of some though, huh?

One of the primary goals of ObamaCare is the redistribution of wealth. A very high priority for President Barack Hussein Obama.

Agreed. With the last thirty years beginning with Reagan's trickle down economic policy the thought was to lessen the burden on the top 1% and the sea level would rise and all on the ship would benefit......30 plus years later the sea level did not rise, but the ship began sinking because of the redistribution of wealth to the 1%. As the middle class becomes more submerged, do you think your tired argument that taxation is socialism is going to matter to the people of America?......nope.....elections matter.

Perhaps social engineering and central govt planning doesn't work as well as people seem to believe.

Medical expense deduction:

If, for a taxable year, you itemize your deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A (PDF), you may be able to deduct expenses you paid that year for medical and dental care for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents. For years beginning after December 31, 2012, you may deduct only the amount by which your total medical expenses exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income or 7.5% if you or your spouse is 65 or older. The 7.5% limitation is a temporary exemption from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2016 for individuals age 65 and older and their spouses. You figure the amount you are allowed to deduct on Form 1040, Schedule A. For more information, see Questions and Answers: 2013 Changes to the Itemized Deduction for Medical Expenses.

IRS Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses, contains additional information on medical expenses, including who will qualify as your dependent for purposes of the deduction and how you figure and report the deduction on your return.

Medical care expenses include payments for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or payments for treatments affecting any structure or function of the body.

Medical care expenses include the insurance premiums you paid for policies that cover medical care or for a qualified long-term care insurance policy covering qualified long-term care services. If you are an employee, medical expenses do not include that portion of your premiums treated as paid by your employer under its sponsored group accident or health policy or qualified long-term care insurance policy. Further, medical expenses do not include the premiums that you paid under your employer-sponsored policy under a premium conversion policy; for example, a federal employee participating in the premium conversion program of the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program, may not include the premiums paid for the policy as a medical expense.

If you are self-employed and have a net profit for the year, you may be able to deduct (as an adjustment to income) the premiums you paid on a health insurance policy covering medical care including a qualified long-term care insurance policy covering medical care for yourself and your spouse and dependents. You cannot take this deduction for any month in which you were eligible to participate in any subsidized health plan maintained by your employer, your former employer, your spouse's employer, or your former spouse's employer. If you do not claim 100% of your self-employed health insurance deduction, you can include the remaining premiums with your other medical expenses as an itemized deduction on Form 1040, Schedule A. You may not deduct insurance premiums paid by an employer-sponsored health insurance plan (cafeteria plan) unless the premiums are included in Box 1 of your Form W-2 (PDF).

Deductible medical expenses may include but are not limited to:

Payments of fees to doctors, dentists, surgeons, chiropractors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and nontraditional medical practitioners
Payments for in-patient hospital care or nursing home services, including the cost of meals and lodging charged by the hospital or nursing home
Payments for acupuncture treatments or inpatient treatment at a center for alcohol or drug addiction, for participation in a smoking-cessation program and for drugs to alleviate nicotine withdrawal that require a prescription
Payments to participate in a weight-loss program for a specific disease or diseases, including obesity, diagnosed by a physician but not ordinarily, payments for diet food items or the payment of health club dues
Payments for insulin and payments for drugs that require a prescription
Payments for admission and transportation to a medical conference relating to a chronic disease that you, your spouse, or your dependents have (if the costs are primarily for and essential to necessitated medical care). However, you may not deduct the costs for meals and lodging while attending the medical conference
Payments for false teeth, reading or prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses, hearing aids, crutches, wheelchairs, and for guide dogs for the blind or deaf
Payments for transportation primarily for and essential to medical care that qualify as medical expenses, such as, payments of the actual fare for a taxi, bus, train, or ambulance or for medical transportation by personal car, the amount of your actual out-of-pocket expenses such as for gas and oil, or the amount of the standard mileage rate for medical expenses, plus the cost of tolls and parking fees
You may not deduct funeral or burial expenses, over-the-counter medicines, toothpaste, toiletries, cosmetics, a trip or program for the general improvement of your health, or most cosmetic surgery. You may not deduct amounts paid for nicotine gum and nicotine patches, which do not require a prescription.

You may deduct as an expense any medicine or drug that is a prescribed drug (determined without regard to whether such drug is available without a prescription) or is insulin. A "prescription" means a written or electronic order for a medicine or drug that meets the legal requirements of a prescription in the state in which the medical expense is incurred and that is issued by an individual who is legally authorized to issue a prescription in that state.

You can only include the medical expenses you paid during the year. Your total deductible medical expenses for the year must be reduced by any reimbursement of deductible medical expenses. It makes no difference if you receive the reimbursement or if it is paid directly to the doctor, hospital, or other medical provider.

Here's a story for you and then watch the video of this woman take out her lack of insurance at the Alabama vs Oklahoma game.

An Open Letter to the Obama Administration and American Citizens:

My family’s journey with securing our new insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) started on October 1, 2013. I have decided to write this letter to let the American people know what it has been like for us. We are a family of four, with two little boys’ ages seven years old and three years old. My husband and I have had full time jobs for 6 years and 13 years respectively. We have been with the same two companies for those years. We are a middle class family; we own our three bedroom two bath house, we own two cars, and previously provided our own insurance for the four of us. We have coverage through Individual Blue from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama until 12/31/13. Our premiums have been $380.00 a month, which also included dental coverage for all four of us.

On October, 1, 2013 we received our letters like other Alabamians about our new premiums and plans for 2014 from Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Alabama. When I opened our letter to say I had sticker shock was an understatement. Our premiums for the Blue Saver Silver would now be $753.26. This included the ACA tax but did not include the additional $75.00 we would need to pay in order to keep dental for me and my husband. So we would need to pay total $828.26 to keep health and dental insurance for the four of us. This payment is roughly $64.00 less than what we pay for our mortgage each month. I was outraged that anyone thought we could afford this. Sure we have some savings, but with that price tag we would whittle it down to almost nothing very quickly. I consider savings as a rainy day fund, a start to saving for the kid’s college, our retirement, etc. I never dreamed in a million years we would need to use it to pay our insurance premiums each month – how in the world could this help the economy too?

Throughout the month of October we read everything we could on what our plan would cover, and tried to get the information we needed about the ACA. I was also blown away when I realized that my son’s medical care, he has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), would cost us so much more out of pocket than it was currently costing us. My son has to go to his doctor every other month for his care. If we need to see a therapist we do that monthly, so you see on top of the premiums there are other out of pocket cost we have to factor in. He is also on medication that he takes daily. His medicine is a life saver for him and helps him function like a normal seven year old, without it he can’t focus, his grades slip and his mind literally goes back to the mind of a three or four year old. When he was first put on his medicine his reading went up 20 points and he went from writing one to two sentences to paragraphs, all in the course of a week. He is a straight A student and very bright, but without the proper medical care that could slip away from him. Under our new plan for 2014 we would need to pay a $55.00 co-pay, and then it would be covered at 80 percent once we reached his deductible, which would be $2,000 individual $4,000 family. Out of pocket max numbers are $6,350 individual and $12,700 family. All of this is enough to make anyone’s head spin. We were then forced to look at other options as none of this was affordable for our family.

I started to dig deeper into healthcare.gov. I was hearing all the horror stories through the news about the subpar website. I was reading right off their healthcare.gov Facebook page about other people’s terrible experiences trying to get coverage. Then the government announces that they are going to be working on the site and making it a better experience as well as making it more secure. They had already had three years to make this happen but they said would need the month of November to get it running right. So I waited patiently for them to get the site running so I could see if we would qualify for the subsidy and continue our health insurance through that route.

December 6, 2013 I went to healthcare.gov and started our application. The process took me over two hours to complete. Once it was completed it came back with our results. The results were that my husband and I qualified. That my three year old qualified for All Kids and that my seven year old did not qualify for anything through the exchange (ACA). I was so confused, how could a seven year old not qualify for a subsidy? I was also confused on why they wanted me to enroll one of my children in All Kids? So, I called the number they provided to speak to a representative. I was on hold for 20 minutes when a woman answered and offered to help me with the results. She told me that it is coming back that my seven year old son did not qualify and the only thing I could do was to file an appeal. I asked her a few more questions about how this could have happened, and I was told “she does not know and that all I can do is file an appeal”. She was reading her responses to me right off of a chart that I am sure they are given. So, I ended my conversation with her and proceeded to try to wrap my head around what was happening.

I decided to call back, this time I waited 15 minutes and spoke to a very nice gentleman who seemed to have an understanding for how the system was working. He looked up the results and said “this can’t be right, let’s start over and do an application over the phone”. So again I went through the application process. The results came back the exact same, we all qualified for something except my seven year old son. The gentleman could not understand how this could be happening and assured me it had to be a “glitch” in the system. He placed me on hold so he could speak with his supervisor on how to fix this error. I waited several minutes and when he came back he said “there was nothing more they could do tonight”. He said “we are sending your application to two different departments and that one of the departments would get back to me through a phone call with a fix to this problem”. He also told me “it could take 2-5 days but that I would receive a phone call when they had closed my case”.

So I waited until Tuesday December 10, 2013, which was day four and called them back. I was then told it would be 2-5 business days and if I had not heard from them at that time to call back. So that is what I did, I waited till 9:00 pm on that Friday December 13, 2013 with no phone call. I called Sunday December 15th, 2013 and spoke with my 3rd supervisor who told me “they were very sorry that I had not received a phone call and they were messaging the two departments to give me a call the following day”. He also said to go ahead and file with All Kids in my state because even though they send that information to them, they have no idea when they will receive it. So Monday I went and applied for All Kids for my children, it was a similar application to the healthcare.gov site. I called them to verify that they received my application and was told they cannot access it till sometime in January. They said once they could access it that they would be in touch and if the kids qualified the coverage would retro act to January 1, 2014. So that was a little bit of good news.

So here we are December 22, 2013, the day before the December 23rd deadline to sign up through the Health Insurance Marketplace’s Exchange. I decide I will call one last time to see what they can tell me about coverage, since I never received a phone call after my last conversation with a supervisor. I waited on hold for 1 hour and 15 minutes. I asked to speak with a supervisor and I was transferred. The supervisor pulled my file and was talking to me when she must have accidentally pressed a button and we got disconnected. I thought for sure she would call me back. That is one of the first things they ask for is your phone number. I did not receive a call back, so I call back and have to be placed on hold again to speak to someone. I waited another hour and a half before I get connected with a supervisor. She pulls up my file and tells me “there is nothing they can do and I have to wait the 90 days they have to contact me through the appeals process”. The supervisor tells me “that this whole time I have been told wrong by numerous people and that I should have been called back but that the two departments could do nothing for me”. I just have to wait the 90 days. I asked her, “so yet again an error, due to no fault of my own, has occurred all these times I have been calling and speaking with people and no one can really do anything”? She said “yes that is correct, I am sorry you have been told something different but that is all I can tell you”.

I have never been treated so poorly by any insurance company in my whole life. I have never experienced such terrible customer service in all my years on this earth. I can’t imagine how long a company would last in this country if they followed the same protocol as the ACA/Health Insurance Marketplace does. Most companies can fix a glitch in their systems pretty easily, or can connect you to someone who can. Not the ACA/ Health Insurance Marketplace, you spend all that time on hold to just be told, so sorry but you have to wait for someone to get back to you in a 90 day time span.

What is the most sickening thing to me is that we have been forced into the Health Insurance Marketplace’s Exchange. We wanted to continue our coverage through BSBC and pay as we always had been. But, we found out that option would not be affordable under the new Act, which is how we were forced into the Exchange. Furthermore, not only were we forced into the Exchange, but then forced again to submit an application to ALL Kids for our children. I just don’t understand how we go from being hard working middle class family who provides everything for our family to where we are today. I feel like everything that my husband and I have worked hard for is for nothing. I pray each night that we will get something resolved with our “glitch” in the system so our children will have health insurance coverage in January and by the time I have to purchase my son’s $400 a month ADHD medicine.

I really don’t know how our government can allow this to be taking place. What if something happens and one of my boys breaks an arm, or God forbid something worse? They don’t have insurance, so I guess we will then be paying the hospital monthly if that happens. We are almost completely debt free currently and now all I see is very large medical bills in our future until the government can fix the issues with the ACA/Exchange. I would really like them to rename the Affordable Care Act, because from where I am sitting it is anything but affordable or caring for my family.

Sincerely,
Karri Kinder

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1910031-alabama-mom-jumps-over-crowd-to-fight-oklahoma-fan

There seems to be confusion........imagine that!

Medical Deduction Threshold to Increase in 2013

Posted by Stephen Ashby, CPA in Health Care Legislation, Health care tax provisions, Individual taxes, New Legislation, Taxation

One of the provisions of the health care reform legislation passed earlier this year increases the medical expense deduction threshold from 7.5% of adjusted gross income to 10% of adjusted gross income, effectively increasing the cost of medical care for many taxpayers who itemize on their tax returns, by reducing their medical deductions.

Under current law, taxpayers may take an itemized deduction for any unreimbursed medical expenses, including medical insurance premiums, which exceed 7.5% of their adjusted gross income. Under the new legislation, this deductibility threshold will increase to 10% for years after 2012.

Here is an example of the effect of this change. Assume Henry has an adjusted gross income of $50,000, medical expenses of $5,000, and he itemizes deductions on his tax return. Under current law, Henry would get an itemized medical deduction of $1,250. This is the $5,000 in medical expenses less the deduction threshold of $3,750, (7.5% of $50,000). Under the new law he gets no deduction because his medical expenses would not exceed the new 10% deduction threshold.

Yep, it's confusing, I guess I'll finally have to break down and use an accountant this year I am over 65 and my wife under and 99% of our medical expenses were mine. At least it's still 7.5% for me. They just keep taking a little here and a little there to pay for obamacare. Hell I'm waiting for the IRS to install a coin operated system in my bathroom where I'd have to pay to use the toilet, that ain't good for an old man,    

I'm waiting for the riots...when people who couldn't afford to buy insurance will be fined for not being able to afford it.

I'm waiting for the riots...when people who couldn't afford to buy insurance will be fined for not being able to afford it.

That will happen right after Mr. Romney sleeps in the Lincoln bedroom and plays basketball with President Obama.

Markle wrote:One of the primary goals of ObamaCare is the redistribution of wealth.  A very high priority for President Barack Hussein Obama.

As it should be, Markie Mark. Because the trend of the wealthiest among us making substantially more than their worth and riding on the backs of everyone else has to be reversed, or our economy and our way of life will not survive...see the Reagan thread. I know you can't be that stupid.

PkrBum wrote:Perhaps social engineering and central govt planning doesn't work as well as people seem to believe.

Will you stop all the commie talk...you sound like a broken record. Maybe you've been listening to too much Zappa...that's a reference to "Joe's Garage" and specifically to the "central scrutinizer". Get a grip.

Floridatexan wrote:

PkrBum wrote:Perhaps social engineering and central govt planning doesn't work as well as people seem to believe.

Will you stop all the commie talk...you sound like a broken record. Maybe you've been listening to too much Zappa...that's a reference to "Joe's Garage" and specifically to the "central scrutinizer". Get a grip.

I can't get a grip... I'm in a grip. Why you think decisions can be made by a ruling elite a thousand miles away is beyond me.

Nearly four quarters of the decisions should take place at a local and state level. That's the most responsive system.

It's how this country was founded. Ever wondered why and how that changed... and for what purpose?