Obamacare rocks - here's why
 

My wife works for a doctor and is her only employee. My wife works only so we can have healthcare, but after she was hired the doctor told us she couldn't afford to insure myself and our kid. However, this morning we got an email from my wife's boss telling us that under Obamacare, she is able to write off a much larger portion of her healthcare expenses as an employer - so much so that she can now insure all three of us and pay less than when she was just covering my wife.

I can't really debate Obamacare, but I have yet to see a downside with it.

There seems to be quite a few unexpected ancillary pluses to the ACA.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickunga...ler-after-all/

Well isn't that just something....

What am I missing here?

An employer/business can "write off" or expense legitimate business expenses like insurance. Meaning these expenses are deducted from profits before taxes are calculated. The only way she is "writing off" more is if her expenses are now higher.

What am I missing Dude?

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I don't know all of the details, but it seems under the new rules the doctor (my wife's employer) can write off a much larger portion of her employee healthcare expenses. She can now put myself and our kid on the plan, and pay less than when she was just covering my wife.

or she's only allowed to write off a certain percentage, and now that percentage is higher

affordable care act is nothing more then another fascist redistribution of wealth from amerikans and future generations to corporations.

just like medicare part d and all the other phony programs that do nothing but redistribute wealth from amerikans and future generations directly to corporations

Unless I'm wrong, and I don't think I am, when I was an employer we deducted 100% of our corporate cost for employee health care not a percentage. Post makes no sense.


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One of the things that both of my doctors are expecting is an increased number of patients, as more people will be using the insurance they now have to get to get medical attention that they have been putting off. One thing he mentioned specifically is colonoscopies, due to the aging population, the nature of the procedure and the expense...They are now a covered preventative care(or will be starting Jan 1)

My GP is actually hiring people in anticipation of increased business.

:thumbsup

it's funny you mention this, i've actually gone ahead and made an appointment for a doctor i want to become a patient of in anticipation of an increase in his # of patients.

You're not wrong. However,it still has to be paid for every month on the front end.

just guessing here, but the keyword in this scenario is
"subsidy"

which would raise the credit the employer can claim for the health care expense (more than the actual dollars spent by the employer)

at least that is the way it has been explained to me for my 'other' small business

So the only way the OP's scenario works is if the employer is now deducting more that 100%.

No doubt, smart doctor. Honestly aside from the server overloads in the first days, this has been the only other story on my local news about the adorable care act, lol. Cute pun right? Anyway, the story from one stodgy old doctor was him kind of whining about how he won't be able to handle the increase in patients. Not a terribly bad problem to have IMHO! Short term bottleneck, long term increase in health care workers.

I am confused about that. One employee would not allow for a group policy. I know that there are specific tax codes that our accountants plug in for insurances. But we are a C-corp and have been over 50 employees for many years.

Her boss might just be taking the expense as he needed it to defer taxable income.
THe odds of him getting audited aren't great and the worst case is he has done something questionable.. he pays the interest and the penalty.

:2 cents:

The right is always running around like chicken little claiming the sky is falling. Yet the sky never falls..

It's rocks so well that you get 16,000 new IRS agents and not doctors.

The downside? Our govt shutdown because half the people we elected want to repeal (or for now not fund) the law... makes me have great hope it'll last and if it gets repealed where does that leave everyone?

More than half and who do you think is the driving force behind that? Perhaps the more than half of the people who don;t want it?

It leaves us where we are right now, but with 16,000 more IRS agents employed. :thumbsup

Big businesses like Wal Mart love to find ways to "cheap out". Imagine their surprise when they found out Obamacare is the ultimate way to cheap the fuck out.

Both parties do it.

Remember Obama going on television and warning about all the dire consequences that would happen if the "sequester" occurred? And Reid and Pelosi followed with all the talking points.

Nothing bad happened at all, the amount of deficit for this year went down, and the economy finally started picking up (the housing market is getting better).

So now the last few weeks I've seen Obama and Reid both bragging about the lower deficit this year! LOL!

I'm glad I've finally opened my eyes and saw all these politicians for what they really are. I look back at the way I use to think and it's almost embarrassing to me that I was such a dupe.

I've been alive since the 1960's. Very, very few of all the promises made by the federal govt. have actually come to pass. But they all cost a LOT of money. :(

hmm... yeah :error

health insurance is a FRINGE benefit, you (as the employer) dont pay taxes on this.

the only exceptions under the new healthcare act (that effect businesses with LESS than 50 employees) is to expense those into other taxes, like FICA, whereas you don't have that now.

if you do the math...

you pay an employee $4k/mo. salary W2
as the employer, you have payroll taxes, FICA, etc., which are about 10-12%
adding in health insurance, say at $500
now the cost to have this person work for you is almost $5,000/mo.

from what I gather, and im not going to double check or look into this more because I pay an accountant/HR person to do this, is that health insurance can be *somewhat* expensed out of the payroll taxes bracket. by how much %? probably a little bit but not enough to go from a $500 to an $800/mo plan.

post makes sense to me,

small business is getting extra tax breaks, so they normally deduct 100% of expenses (inc. healthcare) that's a given, now they get further tax breaks with SHOP. Good for them, small business needs that, not the big ones!

so yes post makes complete sense, just read a little http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-smallbusiness.php

Just listen to Tommy Douglas.

I was able to get a group plan with one employee like this (s-corp).

I am an employee and my employee is an employee so I really have two employees and became eligible.

As far as taxes I paid as a result, not really sure what those consequences were but I suspect there were some because Quickbooks asked how much was paid for health insurance. There had to be some reason.

But you know it rocks! ...Sounds like a winner!

Good to hear that they will pay for "Full of shit" conditions :thumbsup

I think this is what it is. Small businesses get "extra" deductions now plus other benefits.

Well if you Look at the USA and NOT just you and your wife, then you can see a downside...


BUT,
It will take some time to see the overall Pro's Vs Con's for this entire thing.

I have friends and family that are experiencing the following

Lower Health Insurance
Higher Health Insurance

Loss of Hours at a Job
Job cutting insurance
Job offering insurance now, but said no raises for next year to 2 years to adjust.

and with me, my job the Teamster Unions are writing and calling Obama all the time, saying it is bad for business... so

http://www.rgj.com/article/20130930/...dable-Care-Act
Can small employers get a tax credit?

Employers who provide health insurance and have less than 25 full-time employees can get a tax credit of up to 35 percent in 2013 or 25 percent for nonprofits. This can increase up to 50 percent ? 35 percent for nonprofits ? in 2014, with companies who have fewer employees seeing the largest tax credit.

Such employers also must pay average annual wages below $50,000, pay for 50 percent of the employee?s premium (not including dependents), and purchase insurance through the exchange. Companies that do not owe taxes also can carry the credit back or forward to other years.

Tax credits are real money not like deductions.

Trump didn't say those things. Some fat elderly woman did.

:thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup

Although this thread is about how Obamacare is effecting my wife and I, I've been looking at it from an overall view point and I have yet to see a downside.

If you have a union job, you shouldn't even be commenting on Obamacare - you already have healthcare coverage. Of course the unions are pissed - It's going to give healthcare, one of the primary cornerstones of being a union member, to everyone who isn't in a union. Why join the union when you get the same healthcare without it?

I don't believe in "loss of hours" because they employers don't want to pay healthcare. I think employers WANT to pay for healthcare, but it's not beneficial to them under the current system. (Under the current system it would my wife's employer more to provide us with healthcare then my wife's wages are!) Hawaii has mandatory healthcare laws and they have 92% coverage.

Will it increase the healthcare costs for some people? I'm sure it will. It will save me $600 a month AND give my wife's employer some additional benefits. My friend, who's family members has pre-existing conditions, will be able to change healthcare providers for the first time - saving him thousands of dollars a month.

I have yet to see a downside here? Can anyone show me a downside?

YOU just said "Will it increase the healthcare costs for some people? I'm sure it will."

There you GO..

Taking from one to give to another...

And just because you do NOT believe the hours thing.. LOL, so throw that out.. NOT.

NOT Every State is the Same.

Like I said, let's just wait and see...

I don't believe all these people saying their rates doubled either, so I tell them SHOW me...

I will find out soon. Have a very good friend who is diabetic. He currently pays $1,800 a month. He will try to get on the website next week..... I'll report back...

Another friend makes zero in income, and my state didn't take the 45 million or something to expand the Low to no income coverage, so she doesn't qualify, but IS required to buy insurance now????

IDK, I will check this one out myself also...

The Union thing does affect me, as I don't like the union currently. They are just another arm of government, and run like a greedy business also.

They are saying for this contract raises are staying the same, but a huge increase to what the company pays the union, because of the huge rise in health care... ummm What???

Pay me that money, not the Union and let me get my own insurance...

ANYWAY...

it's not all bad, not all good either!

Honestly they should of had a panel put this together. (ACA)

To me it looks like Obama is the Best Insurance sales man on the planet.
He is also the best gun & ammo sales man LOL....

Just got back from a night out and a few beers with a friend who works for a large computer manufacturer and has good coverage through them. We always get into politics and he's pro-obamacare but during our conversation he asked me why I think his life saving medication went from $23 every 90 days to $248 every 90 days recently. I said "welcome to obamacare."

I think they OP's wife was being shtooped by the doctor who wanted to pay for an individual plan and not a family plan. Not uncommon yes?

His moment of clarity was well spent. clappa clappa clappa:)

Is there documentation for this, or do you take what Donald Trump says at face value?

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

:thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup

Massive props, dude.

With any law, some people will benefit, others will not see the direct opposite. That's called "life". Get a helmet.

Even WalMart has suddenly reversed track and is now increasing their full time staff. One of the main points of this law is to make it more profitable to give healthcare. And this is exactly what just happened with my wife's employer. Healthcare for our entire family would cost MORE than what my wife makes. Now under this new law it makes it advantageous for her employer to give our entire family healthcare.

So far, win win.

The reason your friend's healthcare costs are so high are most likely because he has a pre-exisiting condition and he is unable to change healthcare, so he is getting soaked. I have a friend who has the same problem - he can't change healthcare providers because of pre-existing conditions. Under Obamacare he should be able to with no problem.

Why did his medication go up? How did Obamacare affect that?

Probably because the ins. companies will now have to insure people that pre-obamacare they did not want to - because of their costly medical conditions - they need to make up for it by raising costs (lowering coverage) overall

Your friend that makes nothing should already be able to just get Medicaid. The expansion was from 100% to 138% less then that was covered already


So if you have no insurance and they pay you the money and then you actually have a major health issue and rack up $500k in health costs and can't pay, it's ok to stick the tax payer with it then?

For the party of "individual responsibility" they sure are hypocritical. And yes that's how conservatives sold obamacare back in the 1990s because as you know it was created by conservatives. But since Obama wanted it obamacare is a hitler communist plot now

I find it ironic that a doctor can?t pay 1 employees family health care insurance?

It's not that the doctor can't, but... When you reach the point where the healthcare costs more than the employee's salary, something is wrong there.