Monday, July 2, 2012

Here's How Much The Obamacare Penalty Tax Will Cost You...

In most cases, the penalty/tax for not buying Obama designed medical insurance will be cheaper than buying medical insurance. Henry Blodget has a good breakdown:
Here are some key points, from FactCheck.org:
  • The penalty/tax will be phased in from 2014 to 2016.
  • The minimum penalty/tax in 2016 will be $695 per person and up to 3-times that per family. After 2016, these amounts will increase at the rate of inflation.
  • The minimum penalty/tax per person will start at $95 in 2014 (and then increase through 2016)
  • No family will ever pay more than 3X the per-person penalty, regardless of how many people are in the family.
  • The $695 per-person penalty is only for those who make between $9,500 and ~$37,000 per year. If you make less than ~$9.500, you're exempt. If you make more than ~$37,000, your penalty is calculated by the following formula...
  • The penalty is 2.5% of any household income above the level at which you are required to file a tax return. That level is currently $9,500 per person and $19,000 per couple. The penalty on any income above that is 2.5%. So the penalty can get expensive quickly if you make a lot of money.
  • However, the penalty can never be more than the cost of a "Bronze" heath insurance plan purchased through one of the state "exchanges" that will be created as part of Obamacare. The CBO estimates that these policies will cost $4,500-$5,000 per person and $12,000-$12,500 per family in 2016, with the costs rising thereafter.
So, basically, you're looking at penalties of approximately the following at the following income levels:
  • Less than $9,500 income = $0
  • $9,500 - $37,000 income = $695
  • $50,000 income = $1,000
  • $75,000 income = $1,600
  • $100,000 income = $2,250
  • $125,000 income = $2,900
  • $150,000 income = $3,500
  • $175,000 income = $4,100
  • $200,000 income = $4,700
  • Over $200,000 = The cost of a "bronze" health-insurance plan.

15 comments:

  1. This is the LARGEST tax hike I've ever endured! But we know that the system isn't stable and that it'll either go broke or it'll drastically raise taxes, making this tax increase look like a kiddie tax.

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  2. This is going to workout to be disastrous for the insurance industry and ultimately US healthcare. As premiums rise, especially for those not protected by the caps, people are going to have a growing economic incentive to drop coverage and then pick it up when they are sick. That means the ratio of net payers to net consumers is going to change in favor of net consumption. That will drive premiums higher which will cause more to drop off as the economic incentive gets even greater for not having insurance. The average guy in the street, or even the hood, is far more resourceful and ingenious than the bureaucrats that craft the rules.

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  3. A 80% minimum claim pay out by the insurance companies is price fixing. Re-insurance or car insurance companies, for examples, might have an extreme amount of claims for one accounting period causing losses, while having offsetting profits the following period. This type of legislation will be handcuffing the insurance companies just like setting the price for stamps at the post office.

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  4. I'd like to see them collect that from those already making poverty wages. What a laugh.

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  5. How much will it cost a family income of 100,000 who already has health care?

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    1. It will cost you nothing. If you have health care then there is no penalty tax.

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  6. Hey, that looks an awful lot like a progressive income tax.

    Nah. Couldn't be.

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  7. So...if someone only makes $10,000 a year they will have to pay 6.75% of their income (if it were 2.5% it would only be $250 - but it is "whichever is GREATER" which means $675.) Someone who makes $37,000 a year will pay the same penalty ($675) as someone making $9501.00 per year. The higher incomes are capped at 2.5% of the amount OVER the threshold for filing a return. So the most a high income person would pay is 2.5%, whereas the lowest income person pays 6.75% of their gross income. In addition to this they will have to take the bronze level policies which means they will be stuck with premiums they can't afford for a policy which will cover little to nothing after the high deductible is met. 60% translates to about 40% or less because it is 60% of what the insurance company pay for a procedure,not what the procedure actually costs. So in addition to the premiums they have to pay most of the medical bills themselves, leaving them worse off than if they had no insurance at all. At least if they weren't paying the premiums they could take that money and go to the doctor. If everyone is going to be forced to get health insurance then they should all get the same coverage. Poor people shouldn't be forced to buy policies that are useless because they are the cheapest. This is just wrong. What are they going to "force" us to buy next? This is a downright dangerous precedent.

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    1. No one should be forced to buy anything. But if higher income people are forced to buy something, then lower income people should be forced to buy it too. Everyone who voted for this thing should feel the pain rather than just plundering their neighbors. Families making $200,001 according to the table above have to pay more than 6% of their income for this monstrosity, a much higher burden than all others -- and this is projected to rise after 2016 -- this is in ADDITION to other federal and state taxes. Pathetic.

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  8. Someone making $100,000 per year is only going to be charged $2250 as a penalty for not having health care coverage. Honestly that person is an idiot for not having health care coverage. One single surgury is going to cost more than their entire income for the year. Consider it a penalty so people aren't so stupid. I'm lucky as hell to have finally been accepted to a private plan after I had breast cancer. It took 9 years before I could get a plan but now that I have it, my husband and I pay $348 per month. My premium actually went down this year (by a few dollars) and my deductible was lowered.

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  9. Is this a one time for or is this a yearly fee, I wonder. It doesn't say

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  10. Wonder if this is a one time fee or yearly fee? It doesn't say

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  11. Just when you thought the price of drugs and medicine was bad enough. Is the health department really intent on putting us in a no-win situation?

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  12. They can fuk themselves! I'm not buying shit! Lol, try to make me, stupid pricks. Biggest scam in American history. Only fools rush in..

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