Posted on 01/31/2013 2:43:47 PM PST by rhema
In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.
Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS.
The IRS's assumption that the cheapest plan for family of five will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan.
“The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000,” the regulation says.
Bronze will be the lowest tier health-insurance plan available under Obamacare--after Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Under the law, the penalty for not buying health insurance is supposed to be capped at either the annual average Bronze premium, 2.5 percent of taxable income, or $2,085.00 per family in 2016.
In the new final rules published Wednesday, IRS set in law the rules for implementing the penalty Americans must pay if they fail to obey Obamacare's mandate to buy insurance.
To help illustrate these rules, the IRS presented examples of different situations families might find themselves in.
In the examples, the IRS assumes that families of five who are uninsured would need to pay an average of $20,000 per year to purchase a Bronze plan in 2016.
Using the conditions laid out in the regulations, the IRS calculates that a family earning $120,000 per year that did not buy insurance would need to pay a "penalty" (a word the IRS still uses despite the Supreme Court ruling that it is in fact a "tax") of $2,400 in 2016.
For those wondering how clear the IRS's clarifications of this new "penalty" rule are, here is one of the actual examples the IRS gives:
“Example 3. Family without minimum essential coverage.
"(i) In 2016, Taxpayers H and J are married and file a joint return. H and J have three children: K, age 21, L, age 15, and M, age 10. No member of the family has minimum essential coverage for any month in 2016. H and J’s household income is $120,000. H and J’s applicable filing threshold is $24,000. The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000.
"(ii) For each month in 2016, under paragraphs (b)(2)(ii) and (b)(2)(iii) of this section, the applicable dollar amount is $2,780 (($695 x 3 adults) + (($695/2) x 2 children)). Under paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this section, the flat dollar amount is $2,085 (the lesser of $2,780 and $2,085 ($695 x 3)). Under paragraph (b)(3) of this section, the excess income amount is $2,400 (($120,000 - $24,000) x 0.025). Therefore, under paragraph (b)(1) of this section, the monthly penalty amount is $200 (the greater of $173.75 ($2,085/12) or $200 ($2,400/12)).
"(iii) The sum of the monthly penalty amounts is $2,400 ($200 x 12). The sum of the monthly national average bronze plan premiums is $20,000 ($20,000/12 x 12). Therefore, under paragraph (a) of this section, the shared responsibility payment imposed on H and J for 2016 is $2,400 (the lesser of $2,400 or $20,000).”
Thanks for that link Bay... Makes sense now!
insanity
Lessee ...
Pay $20K for the insurance or pay the $2400 penalty [and still get treatment at the emergency room] ...
Decisions, decisions ...
Yes.
And since the government can't create money (they can only devalue it) guess who pays for them.
If half the families in the US pay no income taxes, that creates a liability of $40,000 for each working family.
For some reason that seems impossible.
I'm going to stop thinking about it before my head explodes.
I don't know the exact average annual income for working taxpaying families, but this seem like over 60% of their gross income, to pay for just for mandatory health insurance alone. Certainly, the large number of idiots runnung our government can't be this stupid. Success can't be manufactured out of sheer delusion.
This tracks with what I am seeing. 2012 is the baseline year where everyone’s income is captured via tax form and the also employer share of health insurance via W-2. It will be coded “DD” in box 12. When I see amounts like 16,400 I know someone has a family plan. Figure they are paying about 4k for their share, hopefully out of pre-tax dollars, and there you have $20k.
NOW ... look at that cost versus what the company would pay as a penalty if they DIDN’T offer healthcare and you will soon figure out that the gubermint will be the only game in town. Welcome to the DMV of healthcare.
Oh, and you can be sure that 20k price tag includes coverage for all the special interests: acupuncture, universal contraceptives, karma adjustments, etc.
Negative, you pay the penalty AND still have no coverage.
so, depending on the IRS defintion of penalizeable income or filing limits, and what the 24K threshold income really means: it maybe that gov’t health insurance will be *free* for families under the 24K minimum threshold. i seem to recall that is about the average private sector household income in America, and that such families pay little tax. of course gov’t health insurance != healthcare.
so, if i’m right, if you make more then 24K, you’re now rich! you’ve got it made, baby. the IRS is going to take .025 percent as an excise over the threshold or at least $1985 (8% of 24K?) or $2085 and give it to the *new* middle class (defined by the gov’t as families making below 24K). wow, redistribution baby. it’s nice to know that making 24K and above puts a big fat target on your back right on up to 8% of everything you make.
they get to define their worthless insurance plan, ruining our healthcare and then they make you pay for not using it. God save us.
Makes me want to take John Roberts to the wood shed.
I looked this up earlier (so I could share the story with FB "friends" ;-) and, according to www.census.gov, median income for 2011 was $50,054. So a "Bronze-level" (bottom-tier) plan is expected to cost 40% of the average household income, or $1666 per month.
right, thanks. but there is a public and private sector distinction i’m making here. public *servants* or public sector, unionized employees make multiple times what the average (not median) private sector worker takes home. you know the ones that actually pay the freight.
remember, public sector is just a drag on the economy. they contribute no wealth whatsoever.
Such a deal!
And the will not speak English so good.
Except, of course for the apparatchiks, who will have free platinum service.
And, of course, the peasantry, who will get the free (crapola, but free) service.
We’re paying less than half that amount for our socialized health care here in Germany.
That graphic is beautiful (in a macabre sort of way). Could you post/send me the link for that graphic? Thanks.
Awesome graphic!
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