Can You Get a Health Insurance Exemption?

If you don’t want to pay a penalty tax, you’ll either have to have health insurance after December 31, 2013, or you’ll have to get a health insurance exemption.

One of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, the individual mandate, penalizes people who go without health insurance by making them pay a penalty tax called a shared responsibility payment. There are only three ways around this penalty:

• Have health insurance coverage that meets coverage rules.
• Get an exemption.
• Belong to a group the government views as having health insurance coverage, whether or not you actually do have coverage.

 

Who Is Exempt From the Individual Mandate’s Penalty?

You’re likely exempt from the individual mandate health insurance penalty if you:

• Aren’t in the United States legally.


• Are in jail or prison, unless you're incarcerated pending disposition of charges.


• Are an Alaskan Native or a member of an Indian Tribe.


• Have a small enough income that you’re not required to file income taxes
  How much income can you have before you’re required to file income taxes? For 2012, individuals could earn $9750 before they had to file, and couples could earn $19,500. But, it changes every year. If you’d like to know the filing threshold for any particular year, it’s found in IRS publication 501 for that year, which you can get from the IRS Forms & Publicationswebpage.


• Have a religious conscience objection to insurance
  To qualify for this exemption:
  1. You must be a member of a recognized religious sect.
  2. You have to waive all of your Social Security benefits.
  3. The Commissioner of Social Security must agree that your religion opposes insurance for things like death, disability, and medical care.
  4. The Commissioner must find that members of your religion have made arrangements to provide for their dependent members since they aren’t using insurance as a safety-net.
  5. The sect must have been in existence continuously since December 31, 1950.
  David Emery, the About.com Guide to urban legends, addresses this area in more detail in“Are Muslims Exempt from ObamaCare Health Insurance Mandate?”


• Are a member of a health care sharing ministry
  Health care sharing ministries are religion-based groups of people who assist each other with paying medical bills. You can learn more about health care sharing ministries from The Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries. Your membership won’t make you exempt from the individual mandate unless your sharing ministry has been in existence since 12/31/1999. Additionally, the ministry's yearly accounting audits must be available to the public.


• Can’t afford coverage
  To be considered unaffordable, your contributions toward job-based coverage must be more than eight percent of your household income. For health insurance from your state’s health insurance exchange to be considered unaffordable, your contribution toward the annual premium of the lowest cost bronze plan available in the individual market must be more than eight percent of your household income.


• Have gone less than 3 consecutive months without coverage
  You’re only allowed to use this exemption once per year, and only the first occasion each year is exempted. For example, if you’re uninsured for two months in February and March, then again for three months in August, September, and October, you’ll only be exempt for the February and March period. You’ll owe the shared responsibility payment penalty for the August, September, and October period.


• Have a hardship that legitimately prevents you from getting health insurance
  Your health insurance exchange must decide that you have a hardship affecting your ability to get health insurance. Exchanges use rules and guidelines to make this decision. You can learn more in, "How To Get a Hardship Exemption."

How Do I Get a Health Insurance Exemption?

Your state health insurance exchange is responsible for exemptions based on hardship and religious conscience objection. Apply with the exchange; it will make the eligibility decision and issue the exemption if you qualify.

You can claim exemptions based on the following when you file your federal tax return:

• coverage costing more than eight percent of your income
• membership in a healthcare sharing ministry
• membership in an Indian Tribe
• being incarcerated

If you prefer not to wait until you file your taxes, the exchange can also address the above exemptions. You might choose this option if you have questions or if you're not sure if your situation matches the criteria exactly.

Exemptions due to being uninsured for less than three months will be taken care of when you file your income taxes.

If your exemption is due to having a small enough income that you don't have to file federal income taxes, you don't actually have to apply for the exemption; it's automatic. If you file taxes even though you don't have to, for example because you want to get a refund, you won't have to pay the penalty tax.

I Don’t Qualify for a Health Insurance Exemption; How Can I Avoid the Penalty?

The government treats some people as though they have minimal essential health insurance coverage, even if they don’t. While not exactly the same as being exempt, the effect is similar in that those people don’t have to pay the health insurance penalty tax, even if they don’t have health insurance. You’ll be treated as though you have health insurance coverage if:

• For at least 330 days of the year, you live outside of the United States and maintain a tax home outside of the United States
• You are a resident of Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands, and you don’t have a closer connection to the United States or a foreign country than you do to the US possession where you’re claiming residency.

If none of those things applies to you, but you don’t want to owe the penalty tax, your best bet for avoiding it is to get health insurance coverage.

If you’re unemployed or can’t get health insurance through your employer, your next best option is to try your state’s health insurance exchange. All of the health insurance plans sold through the exchange will meet the rules for minimum coverage. The exchange will also check to see if you’re eligible for any subsidies or tax credits to help you afford coverage, and apply those credits before you have to pay for the insurance.

Before you shop for health insurance at your state’s health insurance exchange, learn how to pick the health insurance plan that’s the best fit for your healthcare needs and your budget in, “Before You Buy Health Insurance—What You Need to Know When You’re Shopping for Health Insurance.”

If you don’t qualify for a health insurance exemption, you’re not living abroad or in a U.S. possession, and you’re not going to get health insurance before January 1, 2014, then you’re probably going to have to pay the shared responsibility penalty. “How Much Is the Health Insurance Penalty for an Individual?” and "How Much Is the Health Insurance Penalty for Families?" will help you figure out how much you’ll owe.

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Should I Buy Life Insurance On My Children?

When is the best time to buy life insurance? - One of the more frequent questions surrounding life insurance is ‘When is the best time to buy?’ As a fee-only financial advisor, I no longer sell life insurance but was previously licensed to sell life insurance in all fifty states.  I am also a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) which is the highest-level designation available in the life insurance industry.

My experience with clients and prospective clients has been that people usually wait to purchase life insurance until they feel they need it. This ‘need’ usually involves a life event such as getting married, having children, or losing a job.  While this approach is beneficial in that you are not paying for coverage before you feel that you need it, the big drawback is that when you do decide to get coverage it is typically more expensive than when you were younger and you run a higher risk that you could be placed in a substandard rate class or denied all together. 

A past client’s story is illustrative here.  I worked with a dentist who was diagnosed as a Type I diabetic in his late twenties.  The good news is that he bought a little bit of coverage in dental school - the bad news is that it wasn’t enough to cover a growing income, a wife who didn’t work outside the home, and three young children.  While he was still insurable, the dentist had to pay substantially more in premiums than he would have, but for the diabetes.

Rather than the ‘wait until you need it’ approach, my contention is that you should buy a policy as soon as practicable.  For most people, this means when you get your first full time job after completing your education.  While insurance companies will typically write policies on children or college students, underwriting often imposes restrictions on both the type of policy that can be purchased as well as the size of the policy.

As you shop for life insurance, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Buy more coverage than you feel you need, especially if you see things like buying a home and starting a family in the future.  Term insurance is very inexpensive for someone purchasing in their twenties.  You do have to jump through some hoops such as having a blood draw, giving a urine sample, and providing your medical history. If you’re going to go through these steps, you might as well buy a large enough policy to last you for a while, rather than one you’ll have to replace in a couple years (and go through the underwriting process all over again).
2. If you’re healthy and a non-smoker, it might be cheaper to buy a stand- alone policy than to take it as an employee benefit.  It is common to take life insurance from your employer as an employee benefit because it is as easy as checking a box during open enrollment. Also remember with employer policies, is that they usually go up in price every five years.  What’s cheap now becomes more expensive, especially when you enter your 40’s and 50’s.  The final thing to keep in mind on this point is that a policy that you buy on your own will stay with you, regardless if you change employers or become self-employed.
3. While each life insurer prices and underwrites their policies a little differently, in general terms the cost of waiting is a slight increase in prices up until age 35. At the 35 the premium increases become noticeable, and at 45 those increases will be even greater.  As such, the cost of waiting until your mid 30’s to buy life insurance is not so much based on age, but on a greater chance that the rate classification you’ll be eligible for won’t be as good as one you would have qualified for at a younger age. This can be due to things such as weight gain, higher cholesterol levels, having a medical condition, or having a parent or sibling be diagnosed with a serious medical condition.
4. Make sure that any Term policy you choose has good convertibility options. Most term insurance now is what’s referred to as ‘level’ term coverage – meaning that the monthly premium will stay the same for however long a term is chosen when the policy is initially purchased. At the end of that level term, you can either:
   1. Drop the policy altogether if you no longer need coverage
   2. Pay the astronomical renewal premiums for a term policy
   3. Apply for a new term policy, based on your age and your health at that time
   4. Convert your policy to a permanent, cash value policy.  The benefit of converting to a cash value policy is that it locks in the rate class you were at when you originally purchased the policy, even if your health has deteriorated.
5. A good resource to check out term life insurance pricing is www.Term4sale.com.  I’ll post another time on places to buy life insurance from.

While this posting primarily discusses term insurance, I’m planning on including future postings to include a discussion of when to opt for permanent insurance instead of term.

source

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When is the best time to buy life insurance? Probably not when you think….

When is the best time to buy life insurance? - One of the more frequent questions surrounding life insurance is ‘When is the best time to buy?’ As a fee-only financial advisor, I no longer sell life insurance but was previously licensed to sell life insurance in all fifty states.  I am also a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) which is the highest-level designation available in the life insurance industry.

My experience with clients and prospective clients has been that people usually wait to purchase life insurance until they feel they need it. This ‘need’ usually involves a life event such as getting married, having children, or losing a job.  While this approach is beneficial in that you are not paying for coverage before you feel that you need it, the big drawback is that when you do decide to get coverage it is typically more expensive than when you were younger and you run a higher risk that you could be placed in a substandard rate class or denied all together. 

A past client’s story is illustrative here.  I worked with a dentist who was diagnosed as a Type I diabetic in his late twenties.  The good news is that he bought a little bit of coverage in dental school - the bad news is that it wasn’t enough to cover a growing income, a wife who didn’t work outside the home, and three young children.  While he was still insurable, the dentist had to pay substantially more in premiums than he would have, but for the diabetes.

Rather than the ‘wait until you need it’ approach, my contention is that you should buy a policy as soon as practicable.  For most people, this means when you get your first full time job after completing your education.  While insurance companies will typically write policies on children or college students, underwriting often imposes restrictions on both the type of policy that can be purchased as well as the size of the policy.

As you shop for life insurance, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Buy more coverage than you feel you need, especially if you see things like buying a home and starting a family in the future.  Term insurance is very inexpensive for someone purchasing in their twenties.  You do have to jump through some hoops such as having a blood draw, giving a urine sample, and providing your medical history. If you’re going to go through these steps, you might as well buy a large enough policy to last you for a while, rather than one you’ll have to replace in a couple years (and go through the underwriting process all over again).
2. If you’re healthy and a non-smoker, it might be cheaper to buy a stand- alone policy than to take it as an employee benefit.  It is common to take life insurance from your employer as an employee benefit because it is as easy as checking a box during open enrollment. Also remember with employer policies, is that they usually go up in price every five years.  What’s cheap now becomes more expensive, especially when you enter your 40’s and 50’s.  The final thing to keep in mind on this point is that a policy that you buy on your own will stay with you, regardless if you change employers or become self-employed.
3. While each life insurer prices and underwrites their policies a little differently, in general terms the cost of waiting is a slight increase in prices up until age 35. At the 35 the premium increases become noticeable, and at 45 those increases will be even greater.  As such, the cost of waiting until your mid 30’s to buy life insurance is not so much based on age, but on a greater chance that the rate classification you’ll be eligible for won’t be as good as one you would have qualified for at a younger age. This can be due to things such as weight gain, higher cholesterol levels, having a medical condition, or having a parent or sibling be diagnosed with a serious medical condition.
4. Make sure that any Term policy you choose has good convertibility options. Most term insurance now is what’s referred to as ‘level’ term coverage – meaning that the monthly premium will stay the same for however long a term is chosen when the policy is initially purchased. At the end of that level term, you can either:
   1. Drop the policy altogether if you no longer need coverage
   2. Pay the astronomical renewal premiums for a term policy
   3. Apply for a new term policy, based on your age and your health at that time
   4. Convert your policy to a permanent, cash value policy.  The benefit of converting to a cash value policy is that it locks in the rate class you were at when you originally purchased the policy, even if your health has deteriorated.
5. A good resource to check out term life insurance pricing is www.Term4sale.com.  I’ll post another time on places to buy life insurance from.

While this posting primarily discusses term insurance, I’m planning on including future postings to include a discussion of when to opt for permanent insurance instead of term.

source

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The Next Shoe To Drop: Obamacare Will Increase The Cost Of Employer-Sponsored Insurance

Yesterday, the Obama Administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a six-page report predicting that Obamacare could cause premiums to increase for nearly two-thirds of small- to medium-sized businesses. “This results in roughly 11 million individuals whose premiums are estimated to be higher as a result of the ACA and about 6 million individuals who are estimated to have lower premiums,” CMS writes. But CMS’ projections almost certainly understate the problem, one that will begin to affect millions of workers in the second half of 2014.

CMS: 11 million will see increased premiums

The CMS premium report was a requirement imposed by Congress on the administration under the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011. That law mandated that CMS “provide an estimate of the number individuals and families who will experience a premium increase and the number who will see a decrease” as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

But CMS only looked at one cost-increasing Obamacare provision: community rating. And they only looked at it for individuals employed by businesses with fewer than 100 employees: what’s called the “small group market.”

Here’s the background. Under Obamacare, all regulated insurance plans are required to charge people the same premium, regardless of health status. Insurers can charge different rates based on age (but only within a narrow range); tobacco use (smokers can be charged 50 percent more than non-smokers); geographic area (insurers can charge people different rates based on regional demographic variation); and whether the plan is for a single individual or a family.

Want to Reduce Federal Spending? Repeal Obamacare's Steep Levies on Young People

Avik RoyAvik Roy

Forbes Staff

Obama Officials In 2010: 93 Million Americans Will Be Unable To Keep Their Health Plans Under Obamacare

Avik RoyAvik Roy

Forbes Staff

Fact-Checking The President's Kind-Of Sort-Of 'Apology' For Obamacare-Driven Insurance Cancellations

Avik RoyAvik Roy

Forbes Staff

Delta Air Lines: Next Year, Our Health Care Costs Will Increase By 'Nearly $100 Million'

Avik RoyAvik Roy

Forbes Staff

Before these provisions went on-line on January 1, 2014, “firms with employees who had better than average health risks would typically pay lower premiums, and therefore, they were more likely to be the firms that offer health insurance. As a result, most of people with coverage in the small group market have premium rates that are below average.” CMS polled “several actuarial experts” who believe that 60 to 67 percent of small-group firms enjoyed below-average premiums in the pre-Obamacare market.

Because the remaining firms have above-average premiums, CMS simplistically assumed that 65 percent of these small-group firms will experience increased premiums, and 35 percent will experience decreased premiums. That amounts to 11 million and 6 million people, respectively.

Why CMS’ estimate is a lowball

But there are other costly requirements that CMS didn’t directly address. For example, Obamacare includes a silly excise tax on health insurance premiums that will get passed onto consumers in the form of higher prices. Same for its taxes on pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The law also requires that all plans cover a broad range of “essential” benefits, some of which they may not already. The law requires that employers cover “adult children” under the age of 26, which is a good deal for those with adult children, but an added cost for everyone else.

These were among the factors that led Delta Air Lines to estimate that it will spend $100 million more on health coverage in 2014 than it did in 2013. And Delta is a large employer, not a small employer; large employers should face relatively lower rate hikes than small ones.

Then, there’s the likelihood that some of the small employers facing steep premium hikes under the law will drop coverage altogether, and rely on Obamacare-subsidized exchanges instead. That form of adverse selection will increase the average cost of small-group health insurance. The companies most likely to do this? Those with a disproportionate number of younger and healthier employees.

One bit of “good” news. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996—known as “HIPAA” by health wonks and the “Patients’ Bill of Rights” by some—required that insurers make offers to anyone in the small-group market regardless of pre-existing conditions. So that part of Obamacare, at least, is redundant in this case, and won’t affect small-group premiums.

Rate hikes will come out in the second half of 2014

Most employers were smart, and renewed their pre-Obamacare policies before the end of 2013. That means that, at the time of renewal, they had twelve more months of premiums under the old system. (Some states banned this practice in order to accelerate the uptake of Obamacare-approved plans.) So we’re going to start seeing more of these stories—of premium spikes in the employer-sponsored market—starting in the second half of 2014, as those old plans roll over.

Total coincidence, but there’s a politically significant event happening in November of 2014.

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Not Just Coffin , ' Zombie ' Also Wandering in CFD Jakarta

Campaign dangers of smoking in the arena of Car Free Day ( CFD ) not only enlivened by the teens with costumes coffin . A total of 5 people with zombie makeup also venturing to remind how dangerous toxic smoke .

Neck and face the zombies filled scabs and sores , spots of blood was splattered clothes d . Although only make-up , looks pretty creepy zombies 5 . They also took pictures of the dangers of cigarette warnings .

" This is a way of capturing the initial impression . Much like cigarette ads always use a macho image , such as the fact that the fate of smokers these zombies , " said Chairman of the National Commission on Tobacco Control ( Komnas PT ) , Dr. Prijo Sidipratomo when found in the CFD arena , Jl Thamrin , Sunday ( 02/02/2014 ) .

As a physician , Dr. Prijo warned that zombies carry the message about the dangers of smoking . The risk of disease caused by smoking so much , ranging from cancer , heart and vascular disease , pregnancy disorders and impotence up .

Action of the zombies that are part of the Kick Off socialization pictorial warnings on cigarette packs was also attended by representatives from the Ministry of Health and a Healthy Heart Club Youth.

Obligation to include pictorial warnings on each pack of cigarettes will take effect in June 2014 . According to Dr. Prijo , Canada is a successful example of controlling the number of smokers with pictorial warnings .

" Canadians were well educated . Previously there was only a written warning , after applying the pictorial warnings significantly reduced the number of smokers , " said Dr. Prijo explain the importance of pictorial warnings , which are judged more effective than just in writing .

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Show Off Cigarette Dangers, Teens Take coffin Roving CFD Jakarta

Starting in June 2014 , in the Indonesian cigarette packs will be required to include pictorial warnings . As part of the socialization , the teens paraded coffins pictorial diseases that will be included in packs of cigarettes.

The images that are perforated for example neck cancer of the larynx , lips rot as well as cancer , and lung blackened by smoke toxins . In total there are 5 choices images warning of the dangers of cigarette smoking will be offered to the company .

" Why do we use a coffin, it's a reminder that smoking is deadly , " said Taufik from club Heart Healthy Teens detikHealth when found in the arena of Car Free Day ( CFD ) , Jl Thamrin , Central Jakarta , Sunday ( 02/02/2014 ) .

Activities long march carrying the coffin -shaped cardboard conducted in order to kick off the socialization of pictorial warnings that done today . The event was also attended by representatives from the Ministry of Health , as well as the National Commission on Tobacco Control .

Prof. Dr. Tjandra Yoga Aditama as Director General of Disease Control and Environmental Health ( P2PL ) said that this activity is done to increase public awareness or consciousness . According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey ( GATS ) in 2011 , 36.1 percent of adults were smokers in Indonesia .

The number of smokers among young people has recorded quite high . GATS 2011 recorded 20.3 percent of children aged 13-15 were current smokers .

" Cigarette consumption in Indonesia increased significantly due to population growth , the inexpensive price of cigarettes and tobacco industry strategy is very aggressive , " said Prof. Tjandra .

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Study : The More Family Members , The Children's Low Speech

In a family with a child more than two or three , most young children often do not receive special attention from both parents . Then how they can grow and learn to talk ? His brother might help .

It was raised to a new study from Canada . Researchers realized couples with many children usually pay less attention to the development of their children , especially the youngest . But this can be compensated with a healthy interaction between the youngest with his brothers , or older siblings .

Previous research reveal children from large families tend to have a word perbendarahaan test scores and IQ lower than fewer family members .

Researcher Jennifer Jenkins said more and more members of the family , the lower the IQ and language skills of the child . Because if the couple has a second child , the attention they give to the child once first be split in two . These conditions then affect the learning process of the child .

To the researchers tried to link the influence of an older brother relationship with language ability and IQ of a child , especially in filling the void of attention from parents .

Researchers observed a number of families from Toronto , Canada , and collect 385 children with a brother whose age is at least four years older . The interaction between the mother with the youngest then assessed , as well as interaction with the younger brother . For instance judge which one is more sensitive to the ability of the child and provide positive reciprocity , whether the sister or mother.

Treasury said the boy also tested , namely by asking the child pointed to a picture after the name of objects in the image are spoken by the researcher . It turns out that children who have a lot of brothers certainly have a word perbendarahaan test scores lower than children whose families are smaller .

Conversely , children who are known to have high interaction with her ​​brother tend to get higher scores than children who do not really care about his brother .

Not satisfied , Jenkins then plans to conduct an experiment to create a program to encourage the brothers to establish better interaction with her ​​sisters , particularly to ascertain whether it can affect cognitive abilities younger siblings or not .

Yet Jenkins admitted if they show the limitations of their study , partly because the researchers did not observe any interaction like brother and sister owned it .

" What is clear where you actually play a very strong role in the characteristics of a child . I also want people to think that the more fraternal relationship was more than just a blood relationship and figure out how to strengthen it , " he said as quoted by Reuters on Sunday ( 02/02/2014 ) .

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