Who has to sign up for Obama Care?

[George Hayduke]

Only a small percentage of the US population needs to sign up for Obamacare health plans.

 

It’s true that the Affordable Care Act requires all Americans to have health insurance. This “individual mandate” represents a big change in US law. But the ACA does not require all Americans to buy their health insurance through its new state exchanges, which are virtual stores for individual health plans.

 

About 55 percent of the people in the nation are covered by an insurance policy that they or someone in their family get through a job, according to the Census Bureau. For them, not much will change due to direct Obamacare effects. This is likely to be especially true if the employer is a big company.

 

If you get insurance from your job, it’s OK for you to shop in Obamacare’s exchanges. But you probably won’t find a better deal than your employer offers. In part, that’s because you won’t be eligible for federal subsidies to defray the cost of the exchange’s insurance wares.

Another one-third of Americans currently have their health-care costs covered by the US government. They are seniors on Medicare, lower-income Americans on Medicaid, or members of the military on the Pentagon’sTricare program.

Again, not much will change here – with one exception.

Medicare recipients won’t have to make any choices about their insurance coverage due to Obamacare. That’s also true for Tricare enrollees. But Obamacare expands the Medicaid program to include more lower-income US residents. That is one of the main ways the law attempts to cover people who are currently uninsured.

You may now qualify for Medicaid if you are a single person earning less than about $16,000 a year. If you have a spouse, children, or other dependents, the income eligibility level will be somewhat higher.

There’s a catch, though. The US Supreme Court ruled that states don’t have to expand Medicaid under Obamacare if they don’t want to. Right now, 29 states are moving toward expansion, according to the consulting firm The Advisory Board. You’ll need to check to see if your state is among them.

Now we come to Americans who buy their health insurance themselves on the open market. This is about 5 percent of the population, or 15 million people. Typically, these people work for small firms that don’t offer insurance, or they work for themselves, or they don’t work but don’t qualify for Medicare or Medicaid.

These folks can still shop for policies on the open market if they want. But they will also be able to buy insurance through the Obamacare state exchanges. (At least, they will if and when the federal doorway to these exchanges, HealthCare.gov, gets its act together.)

Obamacare’s intent is that those who buy individual policies will find better deals on the exchanges. Companies will compete for business in the marketplaces, goes the theory. Then there are the subsidies. The federal government will help pay for health insurance for individuals with annual income up to $46,000. The figure is substantially higher for families.

Last, there are those Americans who are currently uninsured. That’s about 15 percent of the population, or 48 million people. They’ll have to get some kind of health coverage for 2014, or pay a penalty.

The Obamacare exchanges are meant to appeal to them. The federal subsidies will help those who could not afford health coverage to buy it, goes the thinking. The penalties will spur those who just hadn’t bothered to finally purchase policies.

If things go as planned (they haven’t so far), in 2014 7 million Americans will buy private insurance through the health-care exchanges established by Obamacare, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Another 9 million will enroll in Medicaid due to its expansion.

That’s a total of 16 million people who might be said to “have Obamacare” during its first year – or about 5 percent of the US population. The CBO estimates that 44 million people will still remain uninsured in 2014.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2013/1101/Obamacare-and-you-Do-I-have-to-have-Obamacare

[dontlop]

But how can insurance companies compete for business with these small firm people who buy on the open market if they get subsidized by the govt with tax dollars

The govt can just run in the red and accumulate debt without ever paying its debts

We all know that

Private enterprise should not ever have to compete with the govt and taxes

What Obama has done is open the door to fascism

[George Hayduke]

You are 100% correct about O and fascism but, it's not just him or the ACA.  It started with Recycling, Global Warming, Energy Conservation and 'Green Energy'.  But, that's for another thread.

 

I posted the ACA info because so many people are freaking out about it.  Regardless, of one's views of CSM's religious leanings, they are a sound source of information regarding health issues.  

[gymrat76541]

There are about 15 million illegals who do not have health care. Every time they show up at the hospital - they get FREE health care because the do not pay the bill.

[dontlop]

And they will continue to gymrat

What are they gonna do send the irs ?

They have to treat them the law says they do

What's the differance if we pay their bills thru insurance company's or thru taxes and our govt

Were still going to be paying it

Its jus the govt will cost more in the long run

[Jaxinjersey]

This law affected me directly through the Individual Mandate, and I am a prime example of the millions affected in the same way.   I had a very good, affordable plan through Horizon BCBS that was terminated due to the new law.  Now, I was forced to find a replacement...

 

It cost me four days of confusion, lost work, and being on hold on the telephone for literally over 20 hours just to get the information I needed.   This was both by Horizon and the ACA people. 

 

Through ACA, I MAY have been able to qualify for a subsidy... it's all just "good faith" estimates anyway.   However, once you're registered and enrolled through ACA, you are captive to the system... and from what I understand, it would be difficult to un-enroll...

 

In the end... I chose to take a new policy through Horizon again... at almost double the cost of my previous policy with extremely high deductibles.  It is practically unaffordable... yet I am forced to have it. 

 

That's the Individual Mandate.... the Employer Mandate has been kicked down the road until next year (after this November's elections)...  Employers were scrambling to find ways to make it affordable, including cutting employee hours, etc...   There is a temporary reprieve... but don't be fooled that it won't again become a major issue of contention... even for bigger employers!

 

The simple reality, that so many of us saw beforehand... came to fruition.   Loss.

 

There is no way to defend this law.

[stealthwarrior]

I'm not signing up for that crap at all.

[DinarDiva007]

Hi Guys... as you may know by now I am a licensed insurance broker specializing in Health Insurance and I am also certified on the exchange for Obutt care, so let me make a big prediction...

 

A LOT of people who now have Group Insurance with their job will be loosing it. Companies that have less than 50 employees will not continue to offer health insurance, it just will not make sense. Why should the business owner pay 50% of the premium when the Government will pay it. Even with the penalty it will be cheaper for the business owner to go this route. This is a way to just get more and more people on the Government *** and enslave us. You do have a choice to purchase private insurance or none at all and pay the tax, if they even follow thru with that. ObamaCare has brought out every lazy, entitled person with their hand out. Makes me SICK! How far is it going to go... housing, food, cell phones, healthcare, child care man the list just goes on and on.

 

If anyone needs help just pm me I am license in a lot of states

[DinarDavo]

Our small business (12 employees) just went up several $K and that's over the end of this year. My wife's private just went up 38% and was told "it's good for now" until whatever. Obamacare sucks.

[DinarDiva007]

Yes Obamacare does suck, the poor gets theirs paid for and the rich can afford it. Its the people in the lower middle class that are really getting hurt... again

[Lutie]

Where is the AMA in all this. I haven't heard one word from them? I would think with all the Doctors that are against Obama care and have spoken out about what a disaster it is and is going to be the AMA would have a strong position. Did the AMA go with Obama on this in the first place? What was in it for them?

[TexasGranny]

Where is the AMA in all this. I haven't heard one word from them? I would think with all the Doctors that are against Obama care and have spoken out about what a disaster it is and is going to be the AMA would have a strong position. Did the AMA go with Obama on this in the first place? What was in it for them?

 

AMA: Once Again Fewer Doctors Choose AMA

Published: Jun 20, 2011

By  Emily P. Walker , Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today

 

 

CHICAGO -- The American Medical Association saw another steep drop in its membership in 2010 -- this time losing about 12,000 members or 5% of its total membership, the group announced Sunday during its 2011 House of Delegates meeting.

 

In 2010, the AMA's had a total membership of 215,854, down from 228,150 in 2009. Numbers for 2011 are not yet available.

 

While the AMA remains the nation's largest physician's group, membership has dropped sharply since the group endorsed President Obama's healthcare reform plan, which became law last year. Many in the organization quit in protest, and many more continue to quit.

 

"Individual membership in the AMA continues to plummet as physicians see less value in their AMA membership, and increasingly perceive the AMA to be a less responsive organizational bureaucracy..." the District of Columbia delegation wrote in a resolution it introduced to reorganize the group's House of Delegates.

 

Membership declines were most acute in Southern states -- the same region in which state medical societies have been championing opposition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

 

Daniel Edney, MD, a nephrologist and delegate for Mississippi, placed his state's membership at just 600 doctors. Mississippi had 2,327 members in 2010, according to the AMA.

 

"It's PPACA and we all know it," Edney said, referring to the original full name of the law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which has since been shorted to just the Affordable Care Act. "PPACA is what is driving all of our doctors crazy."

 

But not all doctors oppose ACA, as evidence by the number of members -- most of them younger physicians -- who testified in support of the ACA's individual mandate during a Sunday session on the ACA provisions.

 

The number of members in Alabama has dropped so much that the House of Delegates was set to strip away one seat from the state this year, said W. Jeff Terry, MD, a urologist and delegate for Alabama. But the House agreed to hold Alabama's seats at five and give the delegation a year to try and get its membership back up, Terry said.

 

Which will be a difficult task, he admits.

 

Many doctors in his state were so angry with the AMA for supporting healthcare reform that they resigned their memberships.

"That was the one issue that caused the drop in membership," Terry told MedPage Today.

 

Terry has been trying to convince doctors in his state that like it or not, the AMA is the voice of doctors, at least in the minds of the public, and they're better off having their voices heard. Plus, the organization should have a diversity of opinions, he said. If the deflected docs don't rejoin, and more keep quitting, the AMA "will just be a bunch of people who think exactly the same," Terry said.

But for those who quit in protest of the AMA's support of the healthcare reform law, it's an emotional thing, he said, likening the split to a divorce.

 

"It takes a while to get over it," he said, adding he hopes Alabama members will eventually rejoin, but admits it will likely take a while.

 

The AMA reported that membership dues revenue decreased by $4.2 million in 2010 -- down nearly 10% from 2009. Annual dues for active physician members are $420, but students -- who comprise 21% of the AMA's membership, pay just $20 a year.

 

Despite the drop in revenue from dues, AMA brought in an additional $5.2 million in total revenue in 2010, largely due to "stronger publishing and business revenues."

 

[yota691]

There are about 15 million illegals who do not have health care. Every time they show up at the hospital - they get FREE health care because the do not pay the bill.

O trying to help resolves those issue that you speak of....Legalize all of them..with Immigration amnesty and sign them up to the ACA.... 

[Bunk]

Yes Obamacare does suck, the poor gets theirs paid for and the rich can afford it. Its the people in the lower middle class that are really getting hurt... again

 

 

  I agree ...

Where is the AMA in all this. I haven't heard one word from them? I would think with all the Doctors that are against Obama care and have spoken out about what a disaster it is and is going to be the AMA would have a strong position. Did the AMA go with Obama on this in the first place? What was in it for them?

 

 

  The lame stream media do not interview them,only the few that are for Obamacare are interviewed with happy faces ..

O trying to help resolves those issue that you speak of....Legalize all of them..with Immigration amnesty and sign them up to the ACA.... 

 

 

  No Bueno ...

[waterman13]

F Obama care, I am not signing shiite.

Wm13