Obamacare ’s “Affordable” Care Costs – $1 Increase In Annual Pay Could Cost Your Family $9,355 In Additional Premiums

By Tim Brown

The Affordable Care Act continues to demonstrate that there is nothing “affordable” or “caring” in the signature health care law of Barack Obama. Once Obamacare goes into effect next year, middle-aged, middle-class couples with three children could see a $9,355 hike in their annual health insurance premiums if they get a pay raise of just $1 in their annual income.

Terence P. Jeffrey expounds upon this at CNS:

Under ACA, all Americans are required to secure health insurance. Those who do not get it through their employer can buy it through government-run health-insurance exchanges, which the law requires to be set up in every state. People buying their Obamacare-mandated health coverage through these exchanges will be eligible for federal subsidies in the form of a refundable tax credit—as long as their adjusted gross household income is between 100 percent and 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).

People whose household income is too small to qualify for the subsidy will be put on Medicaid. People whose household income exceeds 400 percent of the FPL will get no subsidy at all.

According to the IRS, which responded to a CNSNews.com inquiry on the issue, a household earning an annual income that is just $1 more than 400 percent of the FPL is ineligible for an Obamacare subsidy, period.

As explained by both the IRS—which wrote the regulation governing the Obamacare subsidy–and the Congressional Research Service, which published a July 31 report on the matter (Health Insurance Premium Credits in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), the Obamacare insurance-premium subsidy essentially works as a cap on the percentage of annual income an eligible person is required to pay in health-insurance premiums.

This percentage-of-income cap gradually increases as a household’s income increases from 100 percent of FPL to 400 percent.

For households with income between 100 percent and 133 percent of the poverty level, for example, insurance premiums are capped at 2 percent of household income. From there, the cap gradually rises until it tops out at 9.5 percent of income for households making between 300 percent and 400 percent of the poverty level.

For households with incomes over 400 percent of FPL—even just $1 over, according to the IRS—there is no cap on the percentage of their income they can be made to pay for their Obamacare-mandated health-insurance premiums.

According to the Congressional Research Service, “ACA will provide premium credit support scaled to individual and family income relative to poverty such that eligible families and individuals’ premium contributions will be limited from 2.0 percent to 9.5 percent of income. Individuals and families with income at or above 400 percent of poverty will be ineligible for premium credits.”

There are various plans under Obamacare: Gold, Platinum, Silver and Bronze. While individuals and families can always purchase any of the plans, the Silver one is the plan referenced. However, according to the CRS “if the individual/family enrolls in a plan with a premium that exceeds the premium for the reference plan [the Silver plan], the individual/family is responsible for paying that additional amount.”

Do you want to see what this looks like with your income? The Kaiser Family Foundation has a “Subsidy Calculator,” which gives individuals and families an idea of just how much their health insurance will cost under Obamacare and how much of a federal subsidy (welfare) they will receive or not receive to help pay for it.

Jeffrey demonstrates how this would affect a family of five that earns $110,280 annually (400% of the Federal Poverty Lever). If the family purchases health-insurance on the government-run exchange, their premiums will be capped at 9.5 percent of their income. In other words, they would have to pay 10,476.60 of a $19,832 premium. This is if they purchase the “Silver” plan or a cheaper plan.

“But if the mom in this family gets a 50-cent raise and dad gets a 50-cent raise, too—so that their adjusted gross household income increases by a combined $1 (to $110,281)—the family will no longer have a cap on the percentage of their income they must pay for health-insurance premiums,” Jeffrey writes.

So how much will that $1 annual raise cost this family now?

Due to their enormous gain of $1 for the year, the family no longer qualifies for the subsidy (welfare). Now they will become responsible for the entire amount, $19, 832 every year!

This would only get worse if you are a smoker.

Clearly there are massive problems in Obamacare, problems that I do not think are ones that occurred out of ignorance, but rather are purposeful in bringing on an economic collapse in our country. This is the Alinsky model, which will be used to institute a new form of government in the United States. If Congress can’t or won’t repeal Obamacare, then they should definitely defund it. Call or email your representative and demand that they defund Obamacare in its entirety.