HERE is a great primer outlining what the Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act / Obamacare means for you as an individual, from HuffPost......
In a surprise decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act
passed in 2010. You will hear a lot of commentary from legal and policy
experts in the next few weeks about this decision, but this post is
about what the Court action means for YOU personally.
The outcry from the right will be deafening, and there will be
attempts by the House Republicans between now and November to take out
sections of the law, although the Senate Democratic majority is not
likely to approve any of those actions. Obviously, if the Republicans
win the presidency and the Senate in November, the ACA may not survive
to its full 2014 implementation date. Now is the time to acquaint
yourself with what the health reform law really means to you -- while
you still have it.
1. If you are employed and enjoy health insurance as part of your work benefit package:
The Affordable Care Act does not currently have a large impact on large
self-insured companies; however, as the law is fully implemented in
2014 and beyond, there is a chance that your employer may determine that
employees can get cheaper coverage through a state exchange and over
time some employers may drop employer-sponsored coverage. If you work
for one of those companies, you may actually have more choice of plans
through an exchange and depending on whether or not the employer
subsidizes you or you are eligible for a federal subsidy, you may pay
less than you do now. Until that time, you will see a few benefits of
the ACA -- no lifetime limits on your benefits; restrictions on annual
limits; preventive services without co-pays; and adult children allowed
to stay on parents' plans until age 26.
2. If you are lucky enough to be on Medicare: The
Affordable Care Act has brought seniors a number of significant benefits
already. The doughnut hole in prescription drug coverage is being
closed every year and will disappear by 2020. In 2011
alone, 3.6 million seniors saved $2.1 billion on their prescription
drugs because of health reform. Another benefit for seniors is the
preventive services that are available without co-pays and the 4% reduction in premiums for seniors enrolled in managed care Medicare plans (called Medicare Advantage) in 2012.
However, looming on the horizon if there is a Republican sweep in
November are big changes to Medicare, including a potential rollback of
the ACA benefits and a switch to a voucher system which would give you a
fixed amount to buy a plan without any guarantee that the amount would
be sufficient to cover what you currently have.
3. If you are self employed and have an individual insurance policy for yourself and your family:
Try to keep your policy if you can continue to afford it. Don't let it
lag because we do not know the outcome of the November elections, and if
the Act is overturned, you will be on the streets again, trying to get
coverage as an individual and potentially being turned down for
pre-existing conditions.
4. If you are uninsured but are hoping to be able to get it through the Affordable Care Act and a State Exchange:
The good news about the fact that the Court upheld the entire law is
that you will still have the option to buy insurance through an Exchange
in your state and if your state does not offer one, through a federal
exchange. And you will get help affording that premium via a federal
subsidy that will allow you to earn up to 400% of the federal poverty
level before the subsidy phases out. For those who have a pre-existing
condition, the law still guarantees that insurers must accept you
starting in 2014.
Again, the election in November will determine whether or not the positive features of the ACA will survive.
5. If you are a small employer and were hoping to be able to
help your employees get health insurance at a reasonable rate through
the state exchanges: There will still be options for you and
your employees. The state exchanges will be open to individuals and
small business, offering a variety of plan options at a variety of
prices, much like the Massachusetts exchange. Up to now, small
businesses have found it very expensive to insure their employees,
particularly if any of them have been sick.
If Republicans sweep the November elections, it won't matter how the
Supreme Court has ruled. The entire Affordable Care Act will be repealed
and the Republicans have no plan to replace it with a plan that could
make health care more affordable. Don't forget that the Republican plan
for health reform has only three or four main provisions -- protect
doctors with malpractice reform; allow fly-by-night insurers to sell
their "hospital gown" plans (looks good in the front but is bare in the
back) across state lines; and make you, the consumer "more accountable"
for your health care costs (translation: you pay more). There are many benefits of the Affordable Care Act. Educate yourself and fight to keep them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-bergthold/the-supreme-court-upholds_b_1626172.html?utm_hp_ref=daily-brief?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=062812&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry&utm_term=Daily%20Brief
BUCKNACKT'S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG We should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive & well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate, bier or wein in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WHOO-HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!"
Showing posts with label health insurance tax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health insurance tax. Show all posts
28 June 2012
03 September 2010
Health Law Myths: Outside The Realm Of Reality 3SEP10
Enlarge Hans Pennink/AP Misconceptions have been circulating about the health overhaul bill that was signed into law earlier this year. A sign from a 2009 rally references the "death panel" myth.
Hans Pennink/AP
Misconceptions have been circulating about the health overhaul bill that was signed into law earlier this year. A sign from a 2009 rally references the "death panel" myth.
It turns out, though, that many of these more outlandish claims have at least some basis in truth. Here are some of the more popular myths about the law and the fact that gave rise to them.
1. The law requires people who want public health insurance to be implanted with a microchip.
The origin of this, says Timothy Jost, a professor at Virginia's Washington and Lee University School of Law, is a provision of the House-passed health bill that was ultimately dropped. It called for the Food and Drug Administration to create a registry of medical devices that could be implanted in people.
"We're talking about things like pacemakers, hip implants — things like that," he says. So "that when they fail, we know what's going on, we know the incidence of it and we know how serious the failures are."
But somewhere along the way, people also saw on the Web stories about the FDA's approval of the first implantable microchip in humans that could store medical information and somehow conflated the two things.
"People combing the Web found these microchips and saw this implantable medical device registry as an attempt to implant microchips in people," Jost says. "And then the rumor expanded to say that all people who signed up for the public plan that was in that bill would have to have a microchip implanted."
That was never true. And, in fact, the device registry never even made it into the final bill.
2. The law creates a new "private army" for President Obama.
This actually dates back to a speech then-candidate Obama made in 2008, on his way to the Democratic National Convention, when he called for "a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded" as the nation's military. The president was actually referring to such organizations as the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, as well as other nonmilitary government officials who interact with the public in and outside the U.S.
But some took a far more sinister view of what he meant. So when the new health law created a "ready reserve" within the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, "the people who were looking for the private army knew they had found it," Jost says.
But this new entity will be anything but private. "Now, the Public Health Service — and I don't think a lot of people realize it — is one of our uniformed branches of service," Jost says. The 6,000-plus-member commissioned corps is overseen by the U.S. surgeon general, who holds a rank equivalent to a four-star admiral.
And the effort to create a more deployable force within the PHS Commissioned Corps dates back to at least 2003, when then-Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, in the wake of Sept. 11, wanted to ensure that the government had a sufficient supply of doctors, nurses and scientists to respond to a terrorist or bioterrorism attack.
What the law actually does authorize is creation of a reserve corps that can be called up in time of national emergency, "for things like Hurricane Katrina or a nationwide epidemic," Jost says.
3. The law requires the hiring of 16,500 new, armed Internal Revenue Service Agents.
Yes, the IRS will be involved in implementing the new health law. That's in part because people will have to report on their tax forms whether or not they have insurance to comply with the new health insurance requirements that begin in 2014, and in part because there will be many new tax credits and deductions available to help people afford that insurance.
Related Blog Post
Public Opinion In Doldrums On Health Law Aug. 31, 2010
But both PolitiFact.com and FactCheck.org say that Republican claims that such totals would amount to anywhere near 16,500 agents are exaggerated.
Meanwhile, the law specifically exempts people who fail to obtain health insurance from criminal penalties.
"They can't levy against your property," says Jost. "They can't impose liens."
And the guns? "The IRS does have armed agents to deal with things like the Mafia and Colombian drug lords and all the other things the IRS does deal with," Jost says.
But not lack of health insurance.
4. The law requires you to begin to paying taxes on your health insurance next year.
This is a classic misunderstanding. Starting next year, employers that provide health insurance will have to begin putting on workers' annual W-2 forms the amount they contribute to workers' health insurance premiums. But the law doesn't change the tax treatment of those premiums — they're still exempt from income tax.
"This provision is informative," Jost says. "It's to give people, to give consumers information that employers are spending an awful lot of money on their health care and hopefully people will look at that and realize, 'Maybe if I use my health care a little more carefully, my employer could pay me more in my paycheck and pay less for health insurance premiums.' "
Starting in the year 2018, some people with very generous benefits could indirectly start paying a so-called Cadillac tax if their health insurance exceeds certain thresholds, but there are several exceptions built into that tax, including those for employers who have workforces that are older or sicker than average.
5. The law dictates what you can and can't eat.
The health law has an entire section on public health and wellness, and included in that section is a provision requiring chain restaurants with 20 or more locations to make available nutritional information, including calorie counts, or most of its regular menu items.
"Now HHS — the Department of Health and Human Services — has the responsibility for helping entities figure out how many calories are in each of their menu items. And, as part of the rules, they can look at standardization of the menu as one of the issues," Jost says.
What that means is there is going to be some variance in the number of calories from hamburger to hamburger.
"That's one of the considerations that HHS is supposed to take into account," he says. "But I do not read the statute as HHS is going to determine what McDonald's or Wendy's is going to have on their menu from here on out going forward. And it certainly has no authority to tell anyone else what is on their menu."
6. The law requires hospitals to fire obese employees.
This was a painful lesson for one hospital administrator, who failed to follow the rule of "confirm rumors before acting on them."
The interim president and CEO of the Ohio Valley Medical Center and East Ohio Regional Hospital sent a letter to the homes of some 1,800 employees informing them that "we have recently intercepted a rumor/advance intelligence that the Commissioners of the Healthcare Reform Bill are seriously considering the following proposal: 'Hospitals will be denied Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, in whole or in part, if more than five percent of hospital employees are 25 percent heavier than the generally accepted height and weight guidelines.'"
One tipoff should have been that there are no "Commissioners of the Healthcare Reform Bill." The law is being implemented largely by the secretary of health and human services and the people who work for her, including the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS. The law does create an Independent Payment Advisory Board to make recommendations about how Medicare can save money, but it says nothing about withholding payment based on any characteristics of hospital personnel.
CMS Spokesman Peter Ashkenaz told a local television station that "Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements are based on hospitals and treating patients" and that the agency does not oversee health care employees.
The hospital administrator retracted what he called "misinformation" three days after the letters were sent.
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