4 ms·

New trick I just learned for 2014 (and maybe 2015): you can get 12 month "short term health insurance") for about $50/yr. This isn't great coverage, but does ha

by rdl 13y ago

New trick I just learned for 2014 (and maybe 2015): you can get 12 month "short term health insurance") for about $50/yr. This isn't great coverage, but does have a $750k lifetime limit, which is probably enough for a single year. Short term insurance is not covered by ACA; it's more like disability insurance in that it's an indemnity. You basically keep the plan for catastrophic insurance, and use it if necessary. If you get sick in 2014 and need more medical care in 2015, you switch in the next open enrollment period to an ACA compatible plan. You have to pay the penalty due to not being covered by an approved plan, but $95 and $695/yr isn't huge compared to the premium increase. (in extremis, you can also engineer a qualifying event for enrollment; if I discovered I had cancer of the soul or something in mid-2014, I'd move states, and as a new resident, be eligible for an ACA Gold plan...or get a job at a bigco, of course.) I'm looking at doing this for 2014; $41/mo vs. $250/mo would be nice, even with a penalty. Extra bonus: if you had an individual plan in 2013 (like I did) which got cancelled due to ACA, you don't have to pay the penalty in 2014, either.

msandford 13y ago
This is one of the reasons that I'm not optimistic that AHA will work. It makes gaming the system too tempting. And because it's a national system it's quite likely that as loopholes are found the knowledge will spread and undermine the whole thing. EDIT: And because it's hitting middle to upper middle class folks it seems likely that they'll have the time and knowledge to successfully perform said gaming. All the more reason to build in some kind of gentle transition from full to some to zero help.
- Casseres 13y ago
  The AHA bill is 1,990 pages long [0]. From what I can tell, there are anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 pages of regulations. The Tax code had about 400 pages in 1913, about 19500 pages in 1974, and about 74000 pages today. A lot of people complain about tax loopholes. I wonder how long it will take for the AHA regulations to double. There sure is a lot of room for loopholes and exceptions to hide in there. [0] http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf (3.3 MB)
  - hga 13y ago
    There's also a lot of allied stuff, e.g. the stimulus bill is requiring doctors to move to electronic record keeping. And it has two crucial words, they must make "meaningful use" of the systems. According to a friend in the field, those two words blossomed into about 700 pages of regulations, and small fortunes are being made by consultants who give advice on this. And I'd read of abd implementation where as the doctor fills in more info, more lights on the UI turn green. That one quit, judging the government was inserting itself a little too strongly in the doctor-patient relationship.
malandrew 13y ago
I'm not certain, but I see another alternative for those that find themselves screwed by the cliff and are self employed is to form an LLC and pay themselves a salary that keeps them at the ideal salary and keep balance in the company for future years. This has the added benefit of helping minimize tax obligations over the long term.
- rdl 13y ago
  There are potentially dragons if you artificially reduce salary and retain earnings, but if you have a business justified way, it is possible. The other weirdness is that a lot of this is income based, not assets, so a rich "retired" person could get subsidies.
gojomo 13y ago
I'm having trouble interpreting your numbers; is the short-term insurance $50/year or $50/month? (Looking on ehealthinsurance.com, I don't see any short-term plans under $100/month, but that might be my age/zip.) And why is $95 your estimate for the penalty? Won't most people with non-poverty incomes be paying the larger, 1%-of-income-over-the-filing-threshold, penalty?
- rdl 13y ago
  $50/month. It is actually $30-50 one time and then $40-80/mo which is what I meant by $50/yr. plans are 6 or 12 months max duration depending on state. $95 or 1%. I don't have to worry about the penalty in 2014 since my plan was cancelled in 2013. I didn't look into it enough to see it was the greater of $95 or 1%.

by rdl 13y ago

msandford 13y ago

This is one of the reasons that I'm not optimistic that AHA will work. It makes gaming the system too tempting. And because it's a national system it's quite likely that as loopholes are found the knowledge will spread and undermine the whole thing. EDIT: And because it's hitting middle to upper middle class folks it seems likely that they'll have the time and knowledge to successfully perform said gaming. All the more reason to build in some kind of gentle transition from full to some to zero help.

Casseres 13y ago
The AHA bill is 1,990 pages long [0]. From what I can tell, there are anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 pages of regulations. The Tax code had about 400 pages in 1913, about 19500 pages in 1974, and about 74000 pages today. A lot of people complain about tax loopholes. I wonder how long it will take for the AHA regulations to double. There sure is a lot of room for loopholes and exceptions to hide in there. [0] http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf (3.3 MB)
- hga 13y ago
  There's also a lot of allied stuff, e.g. the stimulus bill is requiring doctors to move to electronic record keeping. And it has two crucial words, they must make "meaningful use" of the systems. According to a friend in the field, those two words blossomed into about 700 pages of regulations, and small fortunes are being made by consultants who give advice on this. And I'd read of abd implementation where as the doctor fills in more info, more lights on the UI turn green. That one quit, judging the government was inserting itself a little too strongly in the doctor-patient relationship.

malandrew 13y ago

I'm not certain, but I see another alternative for those that find themselves screwed by the cliff and are self employed is to form an LLC and pay themselves a salary that keeps them at the ideal salary and keep balance in the company for future years. This has the added benefit of helping minimize tax obligations over the long term.

rdl 13y ago
There are potentially dragons if you artificially reduce salary and retain earnings, but if you have a business justified way, it is possible. The other weirdness is that a lot of this is income based, not assets, so a rich "retired" person could get subsidies.

gojomo 13y ago

I'm having trouble interpreting your numbers; is the short-term insurance $50/year or $50/month? (Looking on ehealthinsurance.com, I don't see any short-term plans under $100/month, but that might be my age/zip.) And why is $95 your estimate for the penalty? Won't most people with non-poverty incomes be paying the larger, 1%-of-income-over-the-filing-threshold, penalty?

rdl 13y ago
$50/month. It is actually $30-50 one time and then $40-80/mo which is what I meant by $50/yr. plans are 6 or 12 months max duration depending on state. $95 or 1%. I don't have to worry about the penalty in 2014 since my plan was cancelled in 2013. I didn't look into it enough to see it was the greater of $95 or 1%.