Anybody want to see the ObamaCare plans BCBS of KC rolled out today.

[G.Gordon]

Shoot me a pm with your email address. OMG, they stink. So what, the poor get a subsidy... if they get sick they have huge out of pocket expenses they can't pay. Zero progress. 80% of America does not want this. Subsidies do not pay for out of pocket medical, they only help with premiums. And then there is the tax year consolidation with any subsidy received. How many are going to be hit with tax bills because their income increased or was reported incorrectly...

[jbornhop]

it is nice to hear someones input from the insurance end of it for a change. thanks for the report.

[G.Gordon]

It is not going to be pretty. It is so ugly, the ones that wrote it, passed it (shoved it down America's throat) have excluded themselves from it. It is a slippery slope from here, ladies and gentlemen, very slippery and steep.

[Kit Papermouth]

It is not going to be pretty. It is so ugly, the ones that wrote it, passed it (shoved it down America's throat) have excluded themselves from it. It is a slippery slope from here, ladies and gentlemen, very slippery and steep.

So you're saying the only way for me to get out of this is to run for office.
I hear ya!!!!!

[LSL Angler]

Just heard on the news that Home Depot is going to cut back on there health care because of Obama care.

[G.Gordon]

Got the Coventry Health Care plans in hand today. They look a little better. More problems uncovered at the same time. The subsidy only applies to those that make 100-400% of the federal poverty level. That is great. The problem is with Missouri and Kansas, they refused, rightly so, to expand Medicaid to 133% of the FPL. So if someone is over 18% of the fpl, the cutoff for one to bre Medicaid eligible, but below 100% of the fpl, they get NO subsidy and will still be unable to afford health insurance. To summarize that: up to 18% you get Medicaid, 19-100% you get screwed, over 100% you get most if not all of your premiums paid and possibly some cost sharing reductions.

[G.Gordon]

Mark, Some companies cutting out healthcare all together or not offering it to family units is actually doing a good service to those in low paying retail type jobs. If you worked at Home Depot, for example, and they made the options available that you could add Barb to your health insurance, chances are you couldn't afford to pay 100% of her cost to insure her on the group plan. Since employer group coverage is "available" to her, she would not be eligible for a subsidy. By Home Depot cutting the availability of spouses to be added to employees coverage they actually make them eligible for financial aid in the form of the subsidy.

[Cray]

My wife works for a major employer in the Memphis area. I'm covered under her plan. Our benefits have changed dramatically with all this stuff going on. They had big meetings with everyone and tried to explain all the changes. Basically what it boiled down to was if they didn't reduce their benefits to employees to get more in line with the governments plan they would have to pay enormous fines to the Gov.
The next thing that is going to happen since they are starting to show your health ins benefit as a dollar amount on your W2 is you will be being taxed on that amount as income. May take them a while but it's going to happen. Thanks for sharing your info.

[G.Gordon]

Cray, you are exactly right. It is going to happen. Take disability insurance or life insurance as an example. If you buy those products at work, payroll deduct the premium, if you file a claim, since you paid the premium, the benefit is tax free. That is why you never want employer provided life or disability insurance where they pay the premium, you'll pay tax at a tough time in your life. What is going to happen, not may happen, but will happen, is every dollar your health insurer pays in benefit for you will be reported and you will pay tax, much the say you would on disability insurance provided in full by your company. Slippery slop, ladies and gentlemen, slippery and steep. There is no reverse on this train.

[G.Gordon]

Real life example of what ObamaCare means. Lisa is 51, I am 47, she has a $2500 ded 100% plan with Coventry, I have a $1500 ded 90/10 plan with a $2500 max out of pocket with BCBS. We pay about $550/mo and have been buying our own insurance for years, me for over 15 years. If we had to buy health insurance on the Marketplace today, we couldn't get the same plans, they are not allowed. They have too low of out of pocket. The closest plan to ours, double the out of pocket, is over $800/mo. Oh, but we have children's dental, maternity, and other EHB's (essential health benefits) they thought we should have, but will never use, and pay for all the same. Next stop, socialized medicine.