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VISTA workers told their U.S. health plan fails test (unanticipated consequence of ObamCare)
New York Times ^ | 26 December 2013 | Robert Pear

Posted on 12/27/2013 12:56:13 AM PST by tellw

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has told Vista volunteers and other AmeriCorps workers that their government-provided health coverage does not measure up to the standards of the new health care law, and that they may be subject to financial penalties unless they obtain insurance elsewhere.

The notice has surprised and worried workers in AmeriCorps, the federal community service program that is often described as a domestic version of the Peace Corps.

Mary Strasser, the director of AmeriCorps’ Vista program, described the changes in a bulletin to members on Dec. 16.

The coverage provided by the agency — the AmeriCorps Health Care Benefits Plan — “does not satisfy the individual responsibility requirement of the Affordable Care Act,” which takes effect on Jan. 1, Ms. Strasser said. Accordingly, she said, Vista members may be required to pay a tax penalty if they do not have other coverage and do not receive an exemption.

The impact on community service workers is another unanticipated consequence of the health care law, which is making coverage available at little or no cost to many uninsured people but disrupting coverage for others who already had it.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: americorps; crappycare; democrats; obama; obamacare; obamasfault; vista
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To: Lmo56

And were aided by the Abbott & Costello rent calculator in determining the costs and economic impact.


21 posted on 12/27/2013 7:23:43 AM PST by william clark (Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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To: tellw

Promise ‘em healthcare as a job perk, then tell ‘em that it won’t qualify? Serves ‘em right if they’re typical RAT voting dot gov drones!


22 posted on 12/27/2013 7:40:02 AM PST by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: tellw

The America Corps and Vista people are PAYING THE PRICE for working for the Fed.gov, just like the military retirees are also. Don’t have ANYTHING to do with the Fed.gov in ANY capacity! Do NOT support the satanic Leviathan!


23 posted on 12/27/2013 8:01:02 AM PST by 2harddrive
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To: tellw
It's okay: people LOVE high taxes and prices.

Especially liberals.
24 posted on 12/27/2013 8:06:48 AM PST by Tzimisce
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To: Lawgvr1955

I received this from a friend

This is about the best explanation I have seen yet about what the democratic party is. Everybody wants “something for nothing” but people who are responsible know that somebody has to pay for those who don’t (whether they can’t or won’t – same difference, somebody has to pay for it).

I’m a 54 year old consulting engineer and make between $60,000 and $125,000 per year, depending on how hard I work and whether or not there are work projects out there for me.

My girlfriend is 61 and makes about $18,000 per year, working as a part-time mail clerk.

For me, making $60,000 a year, under ObamaCare, the cheapest, lowest grade policy I can buy, which also happens to impose a $5,000 deductible, costs $482 per month.

For my girlfriend, the same exact policy, same deductible, costs $1 per month. That’s right, $1 per month. I’m not making this up.

Don’t believe me? Just go to www.coveredca.gov, the ObamaCare website for California and enter the parameters I’ve mentioned above and see for yourself. By the way, my zip code is 93940. You’ll need to enter that.

So OK, clearly ObamaCare is a scheme that involves putting the cost burden of healthcare onto the middle and upper-income wage earners. But there’s a lot more to it. Stick with me.

And before I make my next points, I’d like you to think about something:

I live in Monterey County, in Central California. We have a large land mass but just 426,000 residents - about the population of Colorado Springs or the city of Omaha.

But we do have a large Hispanic population, including a large number of illegal aliens, and to serve this group we have Natividad Medical Center, a massive, Federally subsidized county medical complex that takes up an area about one-third the size of the Chrysler Corporation automobile assembly plant in Belvedere, Illinois (see Google Earth View).

Natividad has state-of-the-art operating rooms, Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging, fully equipped, 24 hour emergency room, and much more.

If you have no insurance, if you’ve been in a drive-by shooting or have overdosed on crack cocaine, this is where you go. And it’s essentially free, because almost everyone who ends up in the ER is uninsured.

Last year, 2,735 babies were born at Natividad. 32% of these were born to out-of-wedlock teenage mothers, 93% of which were Hispanic. Less than 20% could demonstrate proof of citizenship, and 71% listed their native language as Spanish. Of these 876 births, only 40 were covered under [any kind of] private health insurance. The taxpayers paid for the other 836.

And in case you were wondering about the entire population - all 2,735 births - less than 24% involved insured coverage or even partial payment on behalf of the patient to the hospital in exchange for services. Keep this in mind as we move forward.

Now consider this:

If I want to upgrade my policy to a low-deductible premium policy, such as what I had with my last employer, my cost is $886 per month. But my girlfriend can upgrade her policy to the very same level, for just $4 per month. That’s right, $4 per month. $48 per year for a zero-deductible, premium healthcare policy - the kind of thing you get when you work at IBM (except of course, IBM employees pay an average of $170 per month out of pocket for their coverage).

I mean, it’s bad enough that I will be forced to subsidize the ObamaCare scheme in the first place. But even if I agreed with the basic scheme, which of course I do not, I would *never* agree to subsidize premium policies. If I have to pay $482 a month for a budget policy, I sure as hell do not want the guy I’m subsidizing to get a better policy, for less that 1% of what I have to fork out each month for a low-end policy.

Why must I pay $482 per month for something the other guy gets for a dollar? And why should the other guy get to buy an $886 policy for $4 a month? Think about this: I have to pay $10,632 a year for the same thing that the other guy can get for $48. $10,000 of net income is 60 days of full time work *as an engineer*. $48 is something I could pay for collecting aluminum cans and plastic bottles, one day a month.

Are you with me on this? Are you starting to get an idea what ObamaCare is really about?

ObamaCare is not about dealing with inequities in the healthcare system. That’s just the cover story. The real story is that it is a massive, political power grab.

Do you think anyone who can insure himself with a premium policy for $4 a month will vote for anyone but the political party that provides him such a deal?

ObamaCare is about enabling, subsidizing, and expanding the Left’s political power base, at taxpayer expense.

Why would I vote for anyone but a Democrat if I can have babies for $4 a month?

For that matter, why would I go to college or strive for a better job or income if it means I have to pay real money for healthcare coverage?

Heck, why study engineering when I can be a schlub for $20K per year and buy a new F-150 with all the money I’m saving?

And think about those $4-a-month babies - think in terms of propagation models. Think of just how many babies will be born to irresponsible, under-educated mothers. Will we get a new crop of brain surgeons and particle physicists from the dollar baby club, or will we need more cops, criminal courts and prisons? One thing you can be certain of: At $4 a month, they’ll multiply, and multiply, and multiply. And not one of them will vote other than Democrat.

ObamaCare: It’s all about political power.


25 posted on 12/27/2013 8:28:20 AM PST by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: Don Corleone

Excellent!


26 posted on 12/27/2013 8:34:14 AM PST by Jane Long (While Marxists continue the fundamental transformation of the USA, progressive RINOs assist!)
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To: Lawgvr1955

Pelosi: Obamacare will be ‘glorious’

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/23/pelosi-obamacare-will-be-glorious/


27 posted on 12/27/2013 9:13:26 AM PST by Innovative ("Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." -- Vince Lombardi)
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To: Lawgvr1955; All
The Three Stooges couldn’t have designed a worse program than Obamacare. The sheer nerve of Obama, Dems and the Leftist who wrote this abomination of a law thinking they were up to the task is amazing.

 photo 003sm12_zps0384c9a0.png

I understand the analogy but it was completely uncalled for...The Three Stooges were accomplished and hard-working comedians...this mendacious poseur is the least qualified actor in any room that he walks into!

Moe to Barry: "Every time you think you weaken the nation."

28 posted on 12/27/2013 9:17:53 AM PST by Prov1322 (Enjoy my wife's incredible artwork at www.watercolorARTwork.com! (This space no longer for rent))
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To: Don Corleone
I received this from a friend

This is about the best explanation I have seen yet about what the democratic party is. Everybody wants “something for nothing” but people who are responsible know that somebody has to pay for those who don’t (whether they can’t or won’t – same difference, somebody has to pay for it).

Don Corleone... Excellent explanation of Obamacare. Thank you John Roberts (among others), worst Supreme Court Chief Justice since Roger B. Taney and the Dred Scott decision.

29 posted on 12/27/2013 10:13:25 AM PST by Lawgvr1955 (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: reformedliberal
Yeah, she does---I guess it was that Mandela episode that aged her.....ROTFL.

Michele had a snit---she glared ominously then got
up and sat between Bama and the flirtatious blonde.


30 posted on 12/27/2013 5:31:12 PM PST by Liz
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To: pepsionice
Government by dorm-room circle-jerk; with all of the sententious fatuity which only an Ivy League degree can provide.

NO cheers, unfortunately.

31 posted on 12/27/2013 9:12:20 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: tellw

Probably every one of those pukes voted for the loser!


32 posted on 12/27/2013 9:30:20 PM PST by Slump Tester (What if I'm pregnant Teddy? Errr-ahh -Calm down Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
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To: Lawgvr1955

Don’t forget the Supremes that deemed it Constitutional. (major eye roll)


33 posted on 12/28/2013 2:25:51 AM PST by ~Pandora
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To: Liz

Lying demoCRAP bastards! May every one of them roast for eternity in Hell, starting with the commie muzlim pig 0dumb0sh_t!!! Which is where they are going, no doubt about it!


34 posted on 12/28/2013 9:26:58 PM PST by rcrngroup
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To: rcrngroup

The similarity of words is stunning.

They’re all in lockstep-—pledging obeisance to Obamacare-—like unthinking loyal Nazis toeing the Fuhrher’s party line.


35 posted on 12/29/2013 3:24:38 AM PST by Liz
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To: Lawgvr1955
To all of my FReeper friends posting about the incompetence of the administration, writers of the O'care law lacking experience, etc, I am sorry to say you guys have it all wrong.

They are not incompetent at all, they are evil geniuses.
The point of the O'care law is to destroy private healthcare in a non-obvious way, otherwise it would be all to easy to point out the true goals of the socialists who have taken over our government.

36 posted on 12/29/2013 7:18:01 PM PST by SecondAmendment (Restoring our Republic at 9.8357x10^8 FPS)
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To: SecondAmendment

I think that you are correct. This is planned. They may not have had the timetable correct, this advancing faster than they thought, but this is the intention of this program. To this point. Wait’ll you see what the intended final state of health care in the Excited States of America will be.

And you guys think that Canada is socialist. Got some eye opening to do here.


37 posted on 12/30/2013 9:02:24 AM PST by MarkBsnr (I would not believe in the Gospel, if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so.)
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To: tellw
Abby Grosslein, a Vista member in New Orleans, said she thought it was strange that the health benefits provided by a federal agency did not meet the standards of a law adopted more than three and a half years ago. “It would be nice if the government waived the penalty because we are a federally funded program,” said Ms. Grosslein, 24, who is completing her third year of service with AmeriCorps. “It’s as if the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.”

What hypocrisy!

38 posted on 12/30/2013 2:10:42 PM PST by grundle
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To: DB

Exactly! Just like when the feds tell car makers they have to improve MPG and get better and better mileage, while these feds don’t have a clue how to build a trike!


39 posted on 12/31/2013 2:42:35 PM PST by buffyt (The only person who is safe in a gun free area is THE MANIAC WITH A GUN!)
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