# Affordable Care Act article doesn't make sense to me **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2013, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/affordable-care-act-article-doesnt-make-sense-to-me/669909 "2013-09-29T11:38:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/affordable-care-act-article-doesnt-make-sense-to-me/669909/21 "2013-10-02T14:54:39Z")
So, somebody tell me: I make about 10,000 a year. Will I have to forfeit my little $100-200 tax refund if I don’t buy insurance? ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/affordable-care-act-article-doesnt-make-sense-to-me/669909/22 "2013-10-02T14:59:29Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > So, somebody tell me: I make about 10,000 a year. Will I have to forfeit my little $100-200 tax refund if I don’t buy insurance? At 10K a year, you would be covered by Medicaid for free, if you are lucky enough to live in a state that expanded it, and, if not, would almost certainly fall under the “hardship” exemption to the mandate. If purchasing health insurance would cost too-large a fraction of your income, you aren’t required to purchase it. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/affordable-care-act-article-doesnt-make-sense-to-me/669909/23 "2013-10-02T14:59:56Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > So, somebody tell me: I make about 10,000 a year. Will I have to forfeit my little $100-200 tax refund if I don’t buy insurance? Are you single? Married? Kids? ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/affordable-care-act-article-doesnt-make-sense-to-me/669909/24 "2013-10-02T17:37:53Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Are you single? Married? Kids? Single, no dependents, California. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/affordable-care-act-article-doesnt-make-sense-to-me/669909/25 "2013-10-02T18:29:09Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Single, no dependents, California. I would bet that you will qualify for one of the free insurance plans under Medi-Cal. I doubt that will affect your tax return at all. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/affordable-care-act-article-doesnt-make-sense-to-me/669909/26 "2013-10-02T19:25:31Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > That’s exactly it. Striking off on your own requires you to be able to finance your living expenses including health insurance. Not being able to get it at all (and I probably couldn’t) is a deal killer. My wife could do it because she was covered by my insurance. Before the ACA, individual insurance for me would have been close to unaffordable, despite my good income and excellent health ( no pre-existing conditions ). My company pays about $500 a month for my insurance. If I had to buy the same policy from the same company as an individual, pre-ACA, the premiums would’ve been somewhere on the order of $1800 a month. If I had been looking to insure a family of 4, the pre- ACA cost for this policy would’ve been over 62K a year and this is not a typo. Now, with ACA, in NY state, I can buy an equivalent individual policy for around $400 a month… and around $1200 a month for a family of 4. When doing the math on “whether I can afford to quit my job and strike out on my own” …these numbers obviously become a huge deciding factor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/affordable-care-act-article-doesnt-make-sense-to-me/669909.md?page=1)