Health insurance/ tax penalty

[BMW F22]

Does anyone know what the Jan 31st deadline is about? If I just started a new job, do I have to have coverage by Jan 31st? I was told that I have 30 days from the first date of employment to get coverage so I'm not sure whether the Jan 31st deadline applies to me.

Thanks in advance!

[RickFLM4]

Jan. 31 is last day of open enrollment period to buy individual (i.e. Not group like you get from employer) insurance. After that you can't buy individual health insurance unless you have a qualified event (e.g. lose job). You pay a tax for every month you don't have insurance. See healthcare.gov.

[BMW F22]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

Jan. 31 is last day of open enrollment period to buy individual (i.e. Not group like you get from employer) insurance. After that you can't buy individual health insurance unless you have a qualified event (e.g. lose job). You pay a tax for every month you don't have insurance. See healthcare.gov.

Okay great. Thank you. I quit my previous job and traveled for a few months. Wonder if I will be penalized for those months since I had no insurance. Hmm.

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by BMW F22

Okay great. Thank you. I quit my previous job and traveled for a few months. Wonder if I will be penalized for those months since I had no insurance. Hmm.

I believe the questions on the tax return asked if you were insured for the entire year of 2015. I am not sure what happen is you answer no to this question or if there is any way to prove you had insurance. I believe it looks at your W2 to determine if were employed during that time and if the W2 indicated you were covered by insurance.

I think you can answer yes to the question and see what happens, download turbotax and see what happens. I know the last two yrs I had to answer that question but I was employed. I too changed jobs and the new company would not cover me for 30 days but I still said yes in turbotax and it did not flag me as having any issues.

[BMW F22]

Originally Posted by Maestro

I believe the questions on the tax return asked if you were insured for the entire year of 2015. I am not sure what happen is you answer no to this question or if there is any way to prove you had insurance. I believe it looks at your W2 to determine if were employed during that time and if the W2 indicated you were covered by insurance.

I think you can answer yes to the question and see what happens, download turbotax and see what happens. I know the last two yrs I had to answer that question but I was employed. I too changed jobs and the new company would not cover me for 30 days but I still said yes in turbotax and it did not flag me as having any issues.

Awesome. Thanks for that. I'll put that and also check with my tax guy and see. I don't think they would penalize a person for being unemployed (especially since I wasn't even in the US for most of it).

[RickFLM4]

Penalty exemptions may be available if household income falls below a certain level. Site I referenced above should help and / or your tax professional should be able to help.

[1MOREMOD]

Health care sucks balls. Only people that can afford to use it are welfare recipients.

[Sara]

Originally Posted by 1MOREMOD

Health care sucks balls. Only people that can afford to use it are welfare recipients.

What do you mean?

[EALm4]

Originally Posted by Sara504

What do you mean?

Probably that people that qualify for welfare also qualify for little or at no cost government subsidized public care. They walk into a free clinic and get services. If they are stuck with a bill, they also never pay it.

The rest of us are (generally speaking) stuck with high deductible health plans, confined network coverage, high out of pocket maximums, poor Rx coverage, etc...

[1MOREMOD]

I am in health care and have insurance and it's still so expensive for me to go unless my arm falls off I would never go. System motivates working people not to get regular health care and broke people to go all the time.

[kscarrol]

Don't think it will be indicated on the W2. My employer just sent an email saying that we were getting a Form 1095C as proof that we were insured in 2015. That form was supposed to be included as proof with your tax filing. BUT, the IRS just said the Form 1095C won't be required with our 2015 tax filing. Not sure if that gives the OP an out for the 2015 tax year...

[BMW F22]

Thanks for the replies all. Appreciate you guys taking the time to give feedback.

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by 1MOREMOD

Health care sucks balls. Only people that can afford to use it are welfare recipients.

Obamacare banged people even further...

Premiums and deductibles went up, people were dropped and tax penalties came into play... unbelievable.

[007_e350]

Its ridiculous, the same plan we had for family of 4 jumped from 8xx to 14xx a month ..

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by ASAP

Obamacare banged people even further...

Premiums and deductibles went up, people were dropped and tax penalties came into play... unbelievable.

But more people have it now?

That's about it. Its sucks balls.

[9krpmrx8]

So many uninformed. Health insurance costs have been rising dramatically for many years before the Affordable Care Act, both for the employer and the employee. Even large entities like the VA, school district, etc are getting raped by insurance companies. I manage a group of medical practices so I see it from all sides in a Republican state with no exchange.

If your family plan went up, it had nothing to do with "Obamacare".

I also have insurance thru work so I don't qualify for myself to make a change. However, I was able to go from paying $550.00 a month to $112.00 a month thanks to Obamacare since I was able to get my daughter a child only plan with no copays and a deductible and benefits equal to what she already had. Under my group plan I had to pay an employee+children premium of $550.00 a month. Now only I have insurance thru my company and that is covered 100% so I just pay for the child only policy and that is it.

If you guy have kids, I highly suggest looking at child only plans and comparing them to your company policies. I was paying $550.00 a month but I know many who pay more. My brother in law in pays $700.00 a month for him and my two nieces.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by 9krpmrx8

So many uninformed. Health insurance costs have been rising dramatically for many years before the Affordable Care Act, both for the employer and the employee. Even large entities like the VA, school district, etc are getting raped by insurance companies. I manage a group of medical practices so I see it from all sides in a Republican state with no exchange.

If your family plan went up, it had nothing to do with "Obamacare".

I also have insurance thru work so I don't qualify. However, I was able to go from paying $550.00 a month to $112.00 a month thanks to Obamacare since I was able to get my daughter a child only plan with no copays and a deductible and benefits equal to what she already had. Under my group plan I had to pay an employee+children premium of $550.00 a month. Now only I have insurance thru my company and that is covered 100% so I just pay for the child only policy and that is it.

If you guy have kids, I highly suggest looking at child only plans and comparing them to your company policies. I was paying $550.00 a month but I know many who pay more. My brother in law in pays $700.00 a month for him and my two nieces.

So, if medical costs are increasing, and you were able to reduce the premiums you pay due to Obamacare, how does that equation work if no one else is paying more?

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

But more people have it now?

That's about it. Its sucks balls.

More low income families have it now which is offset by the number of people dropped by their carrier or who's rates blew up.

[9krpmrx8]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

So, if medical costs are increasing, and you were able to reduce the premiums you pay due to Obamacare, how does that equation work if no one else is paying more?

Sorry, wrong choice of words on my part. What I meant is that Medical premiums have been increasing for over a decade.

But of course medical care costs have been increasing as well, and that is for a different discussion because there are many, many reasons for that.

People also need to understand that no one really wanted the ACA in its current form. It is a a symbol of our inept government. But overall it was a good thing and can be improved on. It's easy to say something sucks, it's much harder to offer an alternative.

[M3 Number 86]

Originally Posted by ASAP

More low income families have it now which is offset by the number of people dropped by their carrier or who's rates blew up.

Obama made a deal where low income families for healthcare while promising insurance companies more profits by fucking everyone else

Might have to Bernie sanders it, pay a tax, and abolish private healthcare.

[9krpmrx8]

Well no one got the deal they wanted, only a watered down partially dysfunctional program thanks to our bought and paid for elected government officials not being to to work together and compromise since they are loyal to the money only. If they were employed by anyone else they would have been fired within months.

It's easy to blame Obama (or Bush) but they have little control over the real problems. The insurance industry as a whole is a huge racket.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by 9krpmrx8

Well no one got the deal they wanted, only a watered down partially dysfunctional program thanks to our bought and paid for elected government officials not being to to work together and compromise since they are loyal to the money only. If they were employed by anyone else they would have been fired within months.

It's easy to blame Obama (or Bush) but they have little control over the real problems. The insurance industry as a whole is a huge racket.

If the insurance industry is a racket, it's hard to imagine why one would think that jamming more people into a broken system is a good thing.

Health insurance companies should be just that - insurance. People without insurance should not be forced to pay 4x the price of those with insurance. Reforming "managed care" would be a much better place to start IMO. Providing subsidies to people so they can obtain insurance is not sustainable and will likely add to the problem as people without health insurance previously load up on prescriptions and increase their consumption of healthcare, driving up costs, which in turn increase premiums, deductibles and copays.