Posted on 03/05/2021 10:58:48 PM PST by Libloather
Preschool teacher Michele Ryan was nearly in tears when she filled out her 2020 taxes and learned that she owes the government more than $3,100 despite being unemployed for a significant portion of last year. She owes about $1,000 in taxes on unemployment income, but the bulk of her bill - $2,100 - is to repay some of the subsidy she received to buy health insurance last year.
According to the federal government, Ryan earned too much money on unemployment. It was more money than she would have made working as a preschool teacher, and it bumped her into a different income bracket that reduced her Affordable Care Act insurance subsidy. She’s desperate to keep health insurance in the middle of the pandemic and is trying to figure out how to pay the hefty bill.
“Where do I come up with all of this money to pay them back during the pandemic?” said Ryan, 50, who lives in Bergen County, N.J. “What did they expect us to do? Drop Obamacare during the pandemic?”
Ryan is among the millions of Americans encountering surprisingly large tax bills in the midst of a global health crisis. She was finally able to go back to work at a day-care center, but she says she doesn’t have $3,100. She used what savings she had to move from Pennsylvania to New Jersey when a job opened up in her field.
**SNIP**
Congress is trying to fix this problem so that low-income Americans don’t drop their health insurance because they can’t afford it. The $1.9 trillion stimulus package that is expected to pass by mid-March would forgive these tax bills. (Under a deal reached late Friday, households earning under $150,000 would also be spared taxes on the first $10,200 in unemployment income.)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Thanks for the correction.
I am really beginning to hate autocorrect.
It’s called a payment plan. After all everyone must pay their fair share. We are all in this together, don’t you know?
“We’ll have to pass it so you can see what’s in it.”
I guess she just found out what’s in it.
:: Lesson 1: Read the fine print. ::
Troof!
She earned too much money from UIC to actually BE on UIC but the gummint gave her money (more UIC...) to keep her health insurance.
And, during that time, did she utilize the health insurance for any malady that couldn’t wait?
Or, was her FEAR of COVID so hyper-sensationalized by the media that she couldn’t walk away from her cobra?
[Fear paralysis]
A former co-worker in NJ recently asked about something on her state return indicating she owed money related to health insurance; I didn’t understand what she described. Unemployment wasn’t involved, and she wasn’t insured last year - yet she says she owes a few thousand dollars to the state.
Unemployment isn’t means tested.
Or, was her FEAR of COVID so hyper-sensationalized by the media that she couldn’t walk away from her cobra?
She wasn’t on COBRA.
New Jersey has a penalty if you don’t have health insurance.
That was how I understood it, but I’m completely unfamiliar with it. Another reason for people to flee NJ...
I can’t stop laughing, maybe they should pay closer attention to their elected officials, learning how to read would be a good start
Yes you don’t qualify for the ACA discounts unless you make over a certain amount around 15K i think. You have to get medicaid.
I think it is similar to what the feds did. People living in
Massachusetts, Washington, DC, California, and Rhode Island will have the problem too..
Let me guess, these idiots will vote for the Democrats again after they claim they will fix the problem they caused.
"You mean all this free lunch wasn't free?"
Everyone has had set-backs in life. If yours is $3100, consider yourself lucky.
I was under the impression that Christian medi-shares did not accept new members with pre-existing conditions. I could be wrong, but somewhere I got that impression.
Your wife’s insurer will require you to enroll in Medicare when you’re eligible. Have your wife check with her insurance company to be sure, but failure to do so can be dire.
That's gonna put a real hole in that $2000 $1400 check SloJoe didn't send you.
Well sweetheart, yes, I do expect you to make wise decisions while you’re unemployed.
That’s what we in the private sector have to do.
I’ve had a couple long six month stints of unemployment. The first thing to go was health insurance.
I find it ironic that she made more on unemployment than if she was working - and now cries because she has to give some of the excess back...
If you go to “www.medicare.gov/plan-compare” you can compare plans and even find what drugs are covered by each plan. To save a bit of digging you can call your Dr. and see what insurance companies they’ll work with.
Most plans don’t add any additional cost over Part B, (some do).
I couldn’t get an embedded link to work this morning for some reason. Possibly lack of coffee.
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