Help me understand Obamacare

[GJen 9]

Hey everyone

I'm coming back to Visajourney because I need your helping understanding all this craziness. Let me give you a little bit of background.

I'm from Venezuela, I moved here in 2010 and just a couple months ago I got my 10 year greencard. Right now I work at Best Buy and it's a part time position and they don't offer insurance for part-timers. My wife does have a full-time job, but since it's a small business their insurance is pretty expensive and with really high deductibles, and it is now going up even more thanks to the whole Obamacare law. I used to work at a different place and I had insurance there, but now that I dont have one I was trying to find a way to get insurance. We were looking into my wife's insurance plan and see if I could get enrolled with my her insurance plan, but our monthly payments could go as high as $600 per month just for adding me which is absurd.

I have tried reading about the whole obamacare, but I just dont understand much and I dont even know if this would apply to me or not! it is also kinda scary because I read somewhere that if I dont have insurance by 2014, there's a penalty for who isnt enrolled in an insurance plan.

Now my questions are...

is Obamacare for me? can I really get a really cheap insurance plan for me?

will I have to pay a penalty if I dont enroll with an insurance plan by the end of the year?

I'm also hoping next year I get a full-time offer at bestbuy so I could get their insurance... can I just wait and see if this happens or should I just go ahead and enroll with obamacare?

Please give me any information about this topic. I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR HELP!

Edited November 27, 2013 by GJen

[TBoneTX 45,289]

*** Thread moved from Current Affairs/Hot Topics forum to the Moving Here & Your New Life forum, as a better location for this topic. ***

[indiana_sweetie 120]

I'm a USC and I have trouble understanding Obamacare! It looks like my husband (LPR) is eligible to buy it, they just wanted me to scan his green card and mail it (the scan) so a person could verify it.

As far as I know, everyone needs insurance at least 3 months out of the year or they will be fined 90-something dollars at tax time. But that is set to go up in following years. Right now all of America is pretty much confused.

If you miss this enrollment period you need to wait until the next one to sign up. I don't have the website open right now so I can't look it up, but it might not be until November 2014...don't quote me on that...I'm not sure.

I'm not sure what you should do regarding the possible job with insurance.

Edited November 28, 2013 by indiana_sweetie

[christeen 966]

Here are links to helpful info...

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/467257-the-affordable-care-act-getting-yourself-health-care/

[indiana_sweetie 120]

GJen - the website https://www.healthcare.gov/ is working now. You can plug in your info and it will tell you how much of a tax credit you will get to pay your premium. Then you can shop for a plan.

[Ismael&Blair 66]

Thanks to this Obamacare requirement . I also had to buy healthcare insurance for my hubby (added expenses). My hubby is worth it but I wished I had an option to wait until it was the right time!

[christeen 966]

Thanks to this Obamacare requirement . I also had to buy healthcare insurance for my hubby (added expenses). My hubby is worth it but I wished I had an option to wait until it was the right time!

It's NEVER the right time to get sick or have an accident! One incident or illness without insurance and you can be digging out financially for years!

[Ismael&Blair 66]

It's NEVER the right time to get sick or have an accident! One incident or illness without insurance and you can be digging out financially for years!

But you are missing the point. I can buy insurance whenever I want to. I don't need to have the government mandate.

I look at it as the government's way to get guaranteed additional taxes from a taxed out middle class. Work on providing decent jobs and those not so able body citizens to afford to buy their own health insurance in the first place. Leave the ones who are doing fine alone.

I have friends who are doctors and they even say the whole premise is a bad idea. Just wait and see.

[Cam54 84]

You can't wait until you're sick to buy insurance though so surely you should always have insurance, there is never a right time. am I right in thinking a deductible is like an excess? Trying to understand the terminology for healthcare out there, anyone know if I can buy healthcare through the marketplace when I first get there?

[Dieseltu 19]

Anyone can go to the ER for free. And anyone in need isn't going to be ruined for life if they have an accident. Obamacare isn't about insuring the poor. Or getting everyone insurance. No employer is required to offer insurance to its employees. Its another tax scam. On the middle class working man. To support more job destroying spending. While buildijng a bigger poor people / illegal / gubment dependant class. For votes.

[Cam54 84]

Anyone can go to the ER for free. And anyone in need isn't going to be ruined for life if they have an accident. Obamacare isn't about insuring the poor. Or getting everyone insurance. No employer is required to offer insurance to its employees. Its another tax scam. On the middle class working man. To support more job destroying spending. While buildijng a bigger poor people / illegal / gubment dependant class. For votes.

Where do you get your info from, going to ER would have cost me $500 without insurance , certainly not free, people not getting insurance and getting sick and relying on charity and government funding is more damaging to the middle class than them being required legally to have insurance

[BatmanUSA 105]

He is saying it is free because they must treat you in the ER... Of course they will send you a bill, but they must treat you without demanding payment before they provide care....

This is the way many poor people and illegal immigrants receive healthcare in this country.... its just they way it is..

[Teddy B 17,252]

Anyone can go to the ER for free. And anyone in need isn't going to be ruined for life if they have an accident. Obamacare isn't about insuring the poor. Or getting everyone insurance. No employer is required to offer insurance to its employees. Its another tax scam. On the middle class working man. To support more job destroying spending. While buildijng a bigger poor people / illegal / gubment dependant class. For votes.

Hence the need for everyone to have health insurance. Too many people who can afford health insurance use the "free" ER as their means of healthcare and those of us who actually pay for insurance have to foot that bill as well. Mandatory health insurance keeps everyone honest. Those that can't afford it are eligible for Medicaid or will receive tax breaks to help offset the costs.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Teddy B

[Teddy B 17,252]

It's NEVER the right time to get sick or have an accident! One incident or illness without insurance and you can be digging out financially for years!

But you are missing the point. I can buy insurance whenever I want to. I don't need to have the government mandate.

I look at it as the government's way to get guaranteed additional taxes from a taxed out middle class. Work on providing decent jobs and those not so able body citizens to afford to buy their own health insurance in the first place. Leave the ones who are doing fine alone.

I have friends who are doctors and they even say the whole premise is a bad idea. Just wait and see.

If your husband was to get seriously ill or hurt in an accident, who would pay the hospital bills?

What do your doctor fiends say about you not carrying insurance for your husband? Good or bad idea?

Edited December 16, 2013 by Teddy B