Question about ACA and/or Medicaid coverage

[disneysteve]

Our daughter will turn 26 this fall and no longer be eligible to be on our insurance policy. I briefly looked at the healthcare.gov site and one of the first questions was her household income, which they define as the total income of the people listed on her tax return. Even though she lives with us, we no longer claim her as a dependent. She files on her own. Does that mean she only needs to list her own income? If so, that would be great since if she has to include mine, it will make her ineligible for any assistance.

[Like2Plan]

Your state might have a resource that could tell your daughter about her options.

Here is a link I found that has FAQ

https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_consumers/du31.html

[Fishindude77]

She only needs to list her own income.
ACA Insurance can be pretty cheap for lower incomes. There is a number somewhere around $65k where you are not eligible for any discounts.

Talk to a local insurance navigator to help yo through this process. DO NOT get on the ACA website and start entering personal information; emails, cell numbers, etc. or you will be bombarded by solicitors selling insurance.

[disneysteve]

Talk to a local insurance navigator to help yo through this process. DO NOT get on the ACA website and start entering personal information; emails, cell numbers, etc. or you will be bombarded by solicitors selling insurance.

Great advice. Thank you for that.

How does one go about finding a local insurance navigator?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Disneysteve I know you know this but technically you shouldn't have been able to cover your duaghter until age 26 on your medical plan unless she was a student. I know too many parents who do this not realizing they aren't supposed to. But i mean insurance companies never seem to care. But I think that is going to be a HUGE point of contention of repealing the ACA. That pre-exisiting conditions and A LOT of people cover their children until 26 though they aren't supposed to.

[disneysteve]

Disneysteve I know you know this but technically you shouldn't have been able to cover your duaghter until age 26 on your medical plan unless she was a student. I know too many parents who do this not realizing they aren't supposed to. But i mean insurance companies never seem to care. But I think that is going to be a HUGE point of contention of repealing the ACA. That pre-exisiting conditions and A LOT of people cover their children until 26 though they aren't supposed to.

Really? I thought the whole point of the ACA rule was that we could keep her on until 26 instead of 23 like it used to be.

Oh well, she'll be 26 in September and it won't be an issue anymore.

[disneysteve]

Disneysteve I know you know this but technically you shouldn't have been able to cover your duaghter until age 26 on your medical plan unless she was a student.

This isn't true.

From HHS:
Under current law, if your plan covers children, you can now add or keep your children on your health insurance policy until they turn 26 years old.

Children can join or remain on a parent's plan even if they are:

• Married
• Not living with their parents
• Attending school
• Not financially dependent on their parents
• Eligible to enroll in their employer’s plan

[LivingAlmostLarge]

This isn't true.

From HHS:
Under current law, if your plan covers children, you can now add or keep your children on your health insurance policy until they turn 26 years old.

Children can join or remain on a parent's plan even if they are:

• Married
• Not living with their parents
• Attending school
• Not financially dependent on their parents
• Eligible to enroll in their employer’s plan

That's a change with the removal of the penalty? Before it was only if they were in school. I think this makes it ridiculous that we don't have socialized system. I mean here you are covering "children" until 26? Why are we covering our children until age 26? I mean here we are covering until age 26 even if they work because they may not have good coverage or any insurance. Wait until they raise it to 35. Then it starts to become ridiculous. I'm sorry but I'm disgusted by the whole system. That someone is still a "child" and can be covered under parents plans when instead we should be decoupling insurance from employment.

[disneysteve]

I think this makes it ridiculous that we don't have socialized system.

It is absolutely ridiculous that we do not have universal coverage. The US is the only developed country in the world where that's the case.

[Jluke]

Maybe it has to do with children who get advanced degrees post college graduation (typically at age 22). This way they are covered.

all too complicated for me.

[Fishindude77]

Great advice. Thank you for that.

How does one go about finding a local insurance navigator?

The insurance agent that handles my home and auto stuff told us who to call.
Was only one in our small town.

[disneysteve]

Maybe it has to do with children who get advanced degrees post college graduation (typically at age 22). This way they are covered.

all too complicated for me.

I think it's also acknowledging the reality of the post-college labor market. Many grads struggle to find decent jobs and the under-30 crowd were the demographic most likely to be uninsured (prior to ACA). This helped close that gap with the hopes that by 26 most of them would have gotten situated, although now with the pandemic impact, I'm sure many still aren't insured even at 26.

All of this could be solved by trashing the current system.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

It is absolutely ridiculous that we do not have universal coverage. The US is the only developed country in the world where that's the case.

You and i are in agreement it's ridiculous that we don't have universal coverage. There is no excuse. People always say it costs SOOO much. How much are people paying in premiums now? What we pay in premiums would more than cover the cost of a single payer system.

I would say that since we all bought Fivver, well that's a classic case and point of people cobbling together work and NO employer provided coverage. Chances are they are under 30 and just cobbling together "work" rather than a career. Uber, lyft, doordash, instacart, all these "pickup" jobs and stuff have made it such that A LOT of people I know are working "part-time" just enough to cover their bills. They have no desire to work more and enjoy relaxing and aren't planning on kids, aren't planning on buying a home, or retiring. Thus to them working part-time at a couple of different jobs or a mostly full time job and then picking up uber. One friend her roommate is a uber driver because it just works. The car is not a toyota prius but they make at least $1k/month for the $500 rent and $500 food and no taxes. Wham That's it. They are nearly 40 years old, single and don't have a plan outside of going camping and going to festivals, playing in a band, etc.

I think there are a lot of people just cruising along and the idea of retirement or saving is beyond them. They are enjoying life now. And they will enjoy semi "working" until the end. Maybe at 60 they will begin to get worried but honestly Social Security will likely provide 100% of their income replacement. So they will be fine at 62 or 65. And if anything happens then the government has to pick up the tab anyway healthcare wise because they will be on medicaid.

[Like2Plan]

I was just chatting with my sister--she recently went through this process with her daughter. She said she spoke with somebody at (her) county public health (in her state). She called just to ask about eligibility questions. The person was very helpful and since my niece was also on the phone conversation, she was able to get signed up on the phone. Maybe you could check to see if your state handles it similarly?

[Scallywag]

I hope I can keep my son on our plan for life!