Monday, August 05, 2013 by: J. D. Heyes
The Oct. 1 kick-off date for Obamacare is rapidly approaching, and with each passing day, more Americans are finding out just how badly it is going to affect them and their families.
In recent weeks, for example, state after state has announced that insurance rates for residents are going to skyrocket; many insurance companies have said they won't participate in the health care exchanges called for under Obamacare; and employers have said they are cutting hours and jobs in order to keep their own health insurance costs down.
The more you make, the worse off you will be
Now, according to a new analysis, if you work more hours, you are going to get less in terms of Obamacare "benefits" - a revelation that, no doubt, will lead some workers to cut back on their extra time so they don't lose even more money.
"Working more can actually leave you worse off," the price-comparison site ValuePenguin.com said in its analysis.
"It's sort of an absurd scenario," Jonathan Wu, the site's co-founder, said. "It's something for people to be aware of."
Per CNBC:
In that scenario, an individual or family whose annual income surpasses maximums set by the federal government - if only by $1 - will totally lose subsidies available to buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
The loss of those subsidies in some cases will mean that people potentially would have been better off financially if they had worked less during the year, Wu said. And they then would have to work significantly more to make up for the lost subsidy.
So, not only is Obamacare having a net negative effect on employment, now it's going to impact American productivity as well.
"I think they'd be surprised to see how drastic it is," Wu told CNBC. "I'd be kind of shocked to see if I make $100 less (in total income each year), I get all these benefits, but if I make $100 more, I get nothing."
Continuing, Wu said, "You basically don't want to fall in that hole." He added that he thought contractors and those with more control over their own incomes might be liable to adjust their hours so they can avoid plunging over the subsidy cliff.
Wu also said that due to lower premiums being offered to younger people, the net effect will be more noticeable to older Americans. But, he said, "you will see it across all age groups" in the seven states, including Vermont and New York, where insurance premiums are either banned from being affected due to age or are restricted from being affected dramatically.
This is just the beginning, folks
More from CNBC:
Under the ACA, federal subsidies in the form of tax credits to buy insurance on new state health insurance exchanges will be available to millions of people who can start enrolling on those exchanges Oct. 1. The subsidies are available to people or families whose incomes total 400 percent above the federal poverty level or less, and are designed to cap their insurance premiums at 9.5 percent of their total income.
When you do the math, the FPL income for a single person maxes out at $45,960 per year. Maximum amounts are ratcheted upward for couples and families until they max out at $94,200 for a family of four.
The ill-effects of Obamacare's confusing labyrinth of regulations, rules, penalties and fines is just now being felt, some three years after the 2700-page law was passed. As time goes by, Americans will continue to discover just how much Obamacare will be used to control our lives, control our money and control our medical destinies. It's not going to be pretty, but unless or until Congress is pressured enough to defund this beast, expect to see more Obamacare outrages in the future.
Sources:
http://www.cnbc.com
http://www.valuepenguin.com
Posted in: World
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