A friend tried to sign up for health insurance under the ACA, stating a two-person household and an annual income of $12,000. The website said he was not eligible for assistance, and the cheapest (Bronze) plan was $900/month.
This doesn’t seem right. Anyone know what they problem might be?
They should probably be signing up for Medicaid, not health insurance.
Yes, and hopefully the friend isn’t in a red state. The Medicaid expansion part of the ACA that was supposed to cover these very low-income folks was struck down, and is being implemented on a state-by-state basis along party lines. That income is in the grey area where it might or might not be covered based on a state’s rules.
Setting aside the fact the law itself will prove to be a disaster, here’s some good advice…use an Agent. The Agents are not the “navigators.” Agents are traditional insurance agents who are authorized by Covered California/Obamacare. They are listed on the Covered California website. If they are all as good as the one I dealt with (on behalf of my son) you’ll be much better off. They get paid for facilitating the transactions.
Alas.
Check anyway – the ACA Medicaid thingy was an expansion, not a creation. They might be covered under the pre-existing qualifications.
Plus, I believe some red states are choosing to expand now that they’re getting some push back on the uncovered people who are falling through the cracks.
This page from healthcare.gov might be useful: Medicaid expansion & what it means for you
Let’s discuss that in Great Debates, not here please. A whole lot of people wouldn’t consider that “a fact”.
As it turns out, this was only a test my friend was conducting to see what people in the situation described in the OP would find when they visited the healthcare website. He concluded that a self-employed person living in a state that refuses to expand Medicaid is out of luck. I have not tried the experiment myself, but ISTM that some people that use the website may be seeing premiums that are much higher than ones they can actually get.
Since the situation in the OP was a test, and it does not apply to my friends, please close the thread.
Closed at request of OP. Those wishing further discussion of the ACA are welcome to open a new thread in GD.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator