So let me get this right. I am in the donut hole of the new Health Care Proposal???

[glinda]

Husband retired and on Medicare. I am needing surgery which past insurance company would not cover so cannot work. We are paying $500 monthly for Coverage for me right now that I cannot use as we cannot afford to and this is only made partly possible( barely) because we use husband's interest off his retirement stock interest which keeps dropping. We are above poverty level but too poor to eat out, go to a movie, buy clothes new and having to charge all our Christmas presents and are living in part on credit cards?
So as I understand it, we will possibly not be able to afford the new insurance and if dropped we will pay a fine and I will have no insurance at all? Wow! What a deal!
IT IS NOT LIKE I LIKE MY HEALTH INSURANCE OR CAN AFFORD IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cleita]

1. Look at it this way, if you don't pay the fine, you might go to jail

and then you will get health care. Aw, the irony of it.

[glinda]

3. Actually I think the fine is a thousand over my years coverage if I am right. Guess I

will be going to jail. Not kidding.

[glinda]

2. True. Course if I could use the word employer or children might help.

[still_one]

4. Then call your Congressional representatives and tell them to amend this bill when it is law ASAP

I don't know what other options you have

[sandnsea]

5. Is the $500 over 12% of your AGI?

I believe 12% is the amount. If your premium is over that amount, you can drop your current coverage, go to the exchange and get a subsidy. I believe there should be tax credit help as well. If $500 a month is less than 12% of your AGI, then you make too much money to be bitching in the first place.

If you thought you were having a heart attack, would you go to the ER or doctor? If you discovered a lump, would you go to the doctor? If your flu didn't go away, would you go to the doctor? If yes, you've got more health coverage than the people who need this bill.

[glinda]

7. $672 is above our AGI. Looks like you seem to understand our living situation huh? NOT!

All utilities, car insurance, food is expensive here also, on and on....you really have no right to pre-judge. You have no clue. We are still paying on our house which btw is extremely modest. We did not over buy.

[sandnsea]

9. There are also cost of living variances

If you live in an expensive area, that will be factored in as well. But if you're saying $672 is 12% of your AGI, and it's just you and your husband, then you're doing quite well. That's not a judgment, that's a financial fact.

[glinda]

19. Wouldn't know it by the debt that is mounting for emergencies that we cannot afford to pay off.

Refrigerator broke. Charged. Cat needed kidney test. Charged. Christmas, charged, car insurance last time, charged. we make house payments too. not like all older people have their houses paid off let alone cost of living going up with fixed income. Then don't forget the $350/mo donut hole for meds. And don't forget the quarterly payments to hopefully pay for a half year in a nursing home if even. And don't forget when the tornado landed a tree on our house and 1500 had to come from somewhere. Wow! We must be doing great!!!!!!!!!! Thank god for charge cards.

[glinda]

8. And yes...even with HI I have been to the emergency room. We cannot have me afford to get sick at al

[sandnsea]

10. Well there you go. Uninsured people just die. n/t

[glinda]

12. You are a very sarcastic thoughtless person. Sorry to say that but it is true.

[sandnsea]

13. I am sick of people with health coverage denying those without

And you have the nerve to call me thoughtless? You're the one with the hefty income, retirement account, AND health insurance - bitching that you might not get any help with this plan that is designed to help working families with no options.

[glinda]

16. Never denied anyone who did not have health coverage. There is nothing hefty about our

situation. Still paying on student loans. Need a prosthetic that insurance won't pay for. Have a pet poisoned by pet food three years ago and am in the lawsuit that will never settle. Cannot afford even a haircut so I cut my own. Don't whine about getting a break when we get none. In fact, the point is that it will actually be even worse for us. Way worse and that is hard to imagine. I want people to have health care that do not, but the changes will force me to have "none" and go to jail and I am at high risk for a heart attack, have a compromised immune system and have had seizures so don't bitch to me.

[rucky]

6. Double check, b/c I think subsidies kick in at well above poverty level.

And Medicaid just got negotiated to kick in at 133% of poverty level - though I'm not sure if that's for all states.

[sandnsea]

11. The House has it at 150%,

And that is something worth really sticking to our guns and fighting over. I didn't know the Senate kicked it back down to 133%, that sucks.

[rucky]

14. The Senate actually nuked it at first. Nelson (of all people) just brought it back in:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2508829/ben_nelsons_price_is_met_on_health.html?cat=5

[sandnsea]

15. Nelson got a federal funding payment

Anyone in Medicaid after reform passes will be paid for federally. The Medicaid expansion was always there, it's just bounced between 150% and 133% in the Senate. It never went away completely.

[Moosepoop]

17. Not anyone on Medicaid ...

Just anyone on Medicaid in Nebraska, I believe. Unless I'm misunderstanding it.

[sandnsea]

18. Maybe, for now

But I don't think they'll be able to keep it that way for long.