Obamacare Exchanges Rates

Obamacare Exchanges Rates Explained: Penalty, Facts, Pros, And Cons To Affordable Care Act Bill

If you want Obamacare exchanges rates explained, you need to know the facts, pros, and cons to the Affordable Care Act Bill.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Obamacare exemptions exist for certain groups, including religious conscientious objectors.

This article is intended to be an overview, highlighting different parts of the Obamacare plan. For more detailed information, click on the various links within each section to bring up the Inquisitr article.

Obamacare History

A brief look at the history of Obamacare shows heated debate from unions, concerns over the debt ceiling and delays for enacting the state exchanges. Even the origination of the Affordable Care Act bill was controversial. The bill started life as House Resolution 3590, which was then called the Service Members Home Ownership Act. After passing the House, the bill was stripped in a process known as “gut and amend” and replaced entirely with the contents of what became the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

As we all know by now the Supreme Court passed Obamacare as a tax. In fact, the total cost over 10 years was originally projected at $850 billion but this has slowly grown to almost $2 trillion, which is why it became the center of the government shutdown debate. But despite many attempts to stop Obamacare it has become effective as of today.

Obamacare Penalty And Fines

The biggest point being buzzed about is the well-known Obamacare penalty. The policy forces individuals opting out of any form of health insurance to pay a “penalty fine”, which is more appropriately a tax. You must be signed up for health insurance by December 25, 2013 in order to Obamacare penalty. The original Obamacare penalty maxes out at $285 or one percent of the income for a family of four. In 2016, the Obamacare penalty maxes at $695 per person, $2,085 for the family, or 2.5 percent of taxable income, which amounts to $173.75 per month.

Obamacare Exchanges Rates

In general, the Obamacare prices are expected to average $328 per month. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot to know about the Obamacare state exchanges, so gather up all your financial information and have a go at HealthCare.gov. Obamacare exchanges rates all depend on income, location, and the number of dependents. Income projections are required for the self-employed and employees with no health insurance offered at work, so be careful. Also, any raises you receive could conflict with originally reported income so be aware that if you miscalculate you will receive a tax bill for the difference.

Obamacare Exemptions

Many are clamoring for Obamacare exemptions and the group of exemptions currently includes the IRS, the religious, the poor, qualifying Native Americans, illegal aliens, criminals, those suffering “hardships,” and many other categories. Even entire states have attempted to gain exemption status, which created the rather redundant “state innovation waiver.” There’s also a political argument over whether Congress is exempt although that depends on how you define “exemption.”

Obamacare Pros

One of the major pros of the Affordable Care Act will be the creation of an Obamacare rebate system for qualifying individuals stemming from the 80/20 rule. This rule requires insurance companies to spend 80 percent of premiums on healthcare or refund portions of already paid premiums.

For the lower income tax brackets, those in need of health care will have lower premiums and will receive a tax credit and subsidized health care. In addition to the above, the government is talking about a Medicaid expansion for those below 133 percent of the poverty level, if your state provides it.

Studies have shown that preventative medicine can keep the overall cost of healthcare down. So Obamacare also provides genetic testing to women at a high risk for Ovarian and Breast Cancer. There is no co-pay and yearly mammograms are also offered (most insurance programs don’t offer yearly testing anymore).

Young people up to the age of 26 can stay on their parent’s health insurance as long as they’re living together. Small business with less than 50 people can apply for tax credits to help pay for health benefits.

Another pro is the discontinuation of insurance companies denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. But that can conceivably be viewed as a con since some people may choose to go uninsured and pay out of pocket until they have a medical condition which is too expensive. Which leads to…

Obamacare Cons

There’s much talk over whether health care spending will continue to increase at a great rate in America. There has been a slowing but it’s due to the economic recession, not the Affordable Care Act.

Businesses that have more than 50 businesses are required to provide health benefits. Unfortunately, this is both a pro and con since these benefits to full time workers. Under Obamacare, full time employment was officially defined for the first time as being more than 30 hours. But some businesses are responding by cutting worker’s hours to under 30 so Congress is considering changing the ACA definition for full time work to 40 hours.

Studies on the subject of insurance price changes claim that Obamacare premiums for many of the middle aged and seniors will go down. But in order for Obamacare to succeed the costs for the younger generation will have to see a dramatic increase.

The Supreme Court said the average healthcare cost per year for twenty-somethings used to be $854. In order for Obamacare exchanges to break even the the projected cost requires 2.7 million Americans in the 18-35 age range to spend $5,800 a year per individual.

Additionally, many are concerned about the effects Obamacare will have on Social Security, the national debt, inflation and the value of the dollar. In order to enforce the Obamacare penalty the IRS had to expand greatly, which comes at a cost. Obamacare is funded by $52 billion in business taxes as well as $27 billion on drug companies and $20 billion on medical device makers. Back in 2011 the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that Obamacare will result in an estimated 800,000 fewer US jobs. The Obamacare CBO job loss estimate has since grown to seven million jobs according to some results, but only time will tell for certain.

Obamacare Alternatives

Obamacare alternatives do exist for the State exchanges, including religious health care sharing groups and tax breaks for individually purchased health care for part-time workers, the self-employed and for small businesses. The Affordable Care Act does not specifically force anyone into the Obamacare exchanges so be sure to shop around for alternatives before making a decision for your family.

What do you think of the Obamacare exchanges rates? Will you be signing up?