AP NewsBreak: A twist in Obama's health care law

The Barbarian said:

I think as usual …. the liberal fraction in here in their haste to support any government hand out .. . fails to see the point.

If a couple of age to get Medicaid, has an income of $64,000 per year, should be able to afford insurance without government help. Chances are good that their kids are grown and on their own, their house is paid for. That $64,000 income should well be able to afford their own insurance.

I'm not sure where liberals will stop with their living off of other people, but lets take into consideration that the average income in the US is around or under $50,000 a year, now you are expecting those people earning $50,000 a year to pay for retired people health care while they are earning $64,000 a year ???

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WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's health care law would let several million middle-class people get nearly free insurance meant for the poor, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered only after the complex bill was signed.

The change would affect early retirees: A married couple could have an annual income of about $64,000 and still get Medicaid, said officials who make long-range cost estimates for the Health and Human Services department.

Up to 3 million more people could qualify for Medicaid in 2014 as a result of the anomaly. That's because, in a major change from today, most of their Social Security benefits would no longer be counted as income for determining eligibility. It might be compared to allowing middle-class people to qualify for food stamps.

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Objective Voice said:

Think it through, people...put your selfishness and partisanship aside long enough to get the facts, learn the truth and care alittle.

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Objective Voice said:

I'm glad you brought this up. I want people to re-read the commentary from the OP again...



Now, let's put this in perspective...

We're not talking about Medicare here. Why? Because not all early-retirees are old enough to qualify for Medicare insurance. As such, they're in limbo as far as their health insurance is concerned. As an early retiree, they'd lose their health insurance as provided by their previous employer. Yes, they'd be eligible for COBRA, but as most people know COBRA (and SOBRA) are extremely expensive insurance plans. Thus, even if an early retiree were to find themselves as "empty nesters" - middle-aged individuals whose homes may be paid for (or nearly paid off) or whose children have grown up and moved out, having no pension plan that includes continued health insurance at a reasonable price at or near what they were paying while employeed will very likely place these people in great financial hardship even as early retirees.

Now, those who are jumping off the cliff over "middle-aged former working class Americans having to pay into Medicaid" are just being partisan. Think about how the Medicaid system works...

It is a joint-venture insurance program between the Federal government, the state, the individual and the health care provider. The Fed and the States pay equal amounts into the Medicaid system. The client pays a co-pay to Medicaid and the health care provider either accepts the bill in whole or on a sliding fee scale. Either way, the client still has to pay something towards the health care treatment he/she receives. In short, IT'S NOT FREE MEDICAL CARE! Now, for the down side of not allowing this "rider" to happen w/early retirees...

They run the risk of going bankrupt. Let's say we have an early retiree of age 55, he can't qualify for Medicare until at 62.5 at the earliest. His health insurance from his previous employer jumps up from $275/mo. to $425 - it nearly doubles!!! He has no children living with him, his spouse was a stay-at-home mom being responsible for raising her children and keeping a household (home schooling and all because that's what many Conservatives claim is a better way to educate our children as opposed to sending them to public schools). He has a 401K plan from his job...for argument sake let's say it's worth $100,000. Seems like alot of money, right? A retired person should be able to live off that for a very long time. But...

How much is real cost-of-living these days? How much does it take an individual to live on for a full year? According to 2009 Census data (which was the most current info I could find), the average median income in the U.S. was $50,221. Using my $100K example of an individual's 401K plan investment earnings (a figures I openly admit is an example and may not be the average for most middle-class wage earners), you can see that over half of an early retiree's networth may very well get drawn down by his cost-of-living alone.

Think it through, people...put your selfishness and partisanship aside long enough to get the facts, learn the truth and care alittle.

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MrVicchio said:

If we just spend MORE, and borrow more, we can work our way out of this

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Objective Voice said:

I'm glad you brought this up. I want people to re-read the commentary from the OP again...



Now, let's put this in perspective...

We're not talking about Medicare here. Why? Because not all early-retirees are old enough to qualify for Medicare insurance. As such, they're in limbo as far as their health insurance is concerned. As an early retiree, they'd lose their health insurance as provided by their previous employer. Yes, they'd be eligible for COBRA, but as most people know COBRA (and SOBRA) are extremely expensive insurance plans. Thus, even if an early retiree were to find themselves as "empty nesters" - middle-aged individuals whose homes may be paid for (or nearly paid off) or whose children have grown up and moved out, having no pension plan that includes continued health insurance at a reasonable price at or near what they were paying while employeed will very likely place these people in great financial hardship even as early retirees.

Now, those who are jumping off the cliff over "middle-aged former working class Americans having to pay into Medicaid" are just being partisan. Think about how the Medicaid system works...

It is a joint-venture insurance program between the Federal government, the state, the individual and the health care provider. The Fed and the States pay equal amounts into the Medicaid system. The client pays a co-pay to Medicaid and the health care provider either accepts the bill in whole or on a sliding fee scale. Either way, the client still has to pay something towards the health care treatment he/she receives. In short, IT'S NOT FREE MEDICAL CARE! Now, for the down side of not allowing this "rider" to happen w/early retirees...

They run the risk of going bankrupt. Let's say we have an early retiree of age 55, he can't qualify for Medicare until at 62.5 at the earliest. His health insurance from his previous employer jumps up from $275/mo. to $425 - it nearly doubles!!! He has no children living with him, his spouse was a stay-at-home mom being responsible for raising her children and keeping a household (home schooling and all because that's what many Conservatives claim is a better way to educate our children as opposed to sending them to public schools). He has a 401K plan from his job...for argument sake let's say it's worth $100,000. Seems like alot of money, right? A retired person should be able to live off that for a very long time. But...

How much is real cost-of-living these days? How much does it take an individual to live on for a full year? According to 2009 Census data (which was the most current info I could find), the average median income in the U.S. was $50,221. Using my $100K example of an individual's 401K plan investment earnings (a figures I openly admit is an example and may not be the average for most middle-class wage earners), you can see that over half of an early retiree's networth may very well get drawn down by his cost-of-living alone.

Think it through, people...put your selfishness and partisanship aside long enough to get the facts, learn the truth and care alittle.

Click to expand...

MrVicchio said:

If we just spend MORE, and borrow more, we can work our way out of this

Click to expand...