[fancy_heading h1=”1″ icon=”icon-lamp” style=”line” title=”Income Tax Penalties & Minimum Essential Coverage”]Or, how you can have health insurance but still get penalized for not having any!
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[fancy_heading h1=”0″ icon=”icon-lamp” style=”arrows” title=”When it comes to your health insurance, quality counts!”]Under the Individual Shared Responsibility Provisionof the Affordable Care Act, unless you are exempt, you are required to buy health insurance that meets certain minimum standards.
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[fancy_heading h1=”0″ icon=”icon-lamp” style=”arrows” title=”Insurance policies that meet those standards are called ‘ACA-Compliant.'”]”ACA-compliant” policies must include ten minimum essential coverages and be guaranteed issue during open enrollment (which usually runs from 11/1 to 1/31). They must not include pre-existing condition limitations, or permit rescissions of coverage in the event of illness. Plus, these policies must spend at least 80% of their premiums on actual healthcare. [/fancy_heading]
[fancy_heading h1=”0″ icon=”icon-lamp” style=”arrows” title=”Why did the ACA establish minimum coverage standards?”]Because before the ACA, health insurance companies started ‘disappearing’ coverages (like maternity care) that cost a lot to provide. They also would cancel your health insurance if you got sick, so they wouldn’t have to pay for your health care. Though it was cold-blooded, this was a great way for the insurance companies to be extremely profitable. Click here for more on Health Insurance Company Abuses.
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[fancy_heading h1=”0″ icon=”icon-lamp” style=”arrows” title=”What are ‘skimpy’ policies, and can ‘skimpy’ policies still be ACA-compliant?”]It depends. ‘Skimpy’ is not an official insurance word! If ‘skimpy’ refers to a policy that doesn’t include, say, hospitalization, then it’s not ACA-compliant. But if it meets the ACA standards while passing more costs to the patient in the form of high deductibles and co-pays, then the policy can be called ‘skimpy’ yet still be good enough to avoid getting a penalty. ACA-compliant, high-deductible ‘skimpy’ policies are a new way insurance companies can make lots of money. It’s called “Skin in the Game” Insurance.
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[fancy_heading h1=”0″ icon=”icon-lamp” style=”arrows” title=”What kind of insurance would offer the broadest possible coverage for the lowest possible cost?”]When you’re sick, no matter how you define it, ‘skimpy’ just doesn’t cut it! The HEAL California solution is an improved, expanded Medicare plan that covers 100% of the costs for 100% of the people (not just people over age 65).[/fancy_heading]
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