A Possible New Sideline?

[kcjenkins]

http://amac.us/applying-for-obama-health-care-plan-not-easy

Applying for benefits under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul could be as daunting as doing your taxes.

The government’s draft application runs 15 pages for a three-person family. An outline of the online version has 21 steps, some with additional questions.

[Kea]

I'll make a more informed decision after I see the actual application.

Have you ever applied for individual insurance under the "old way?" Many, many pages of questions that are difficult to answer. Will these new forms be easier or more complicated to fill out? I don't know, yet. The forms we filling out for our group (of 2) insurance was pretty daunting & pretty similar to the applications we filled in for the individual insurance we couldn't get.

FWIW, filing a tax return was much easier. Generally, you only have to worry about the prior year. Remembering every illness, Rx, dates of hospital visits EVER was something I found to be rather challenging.

I'll be happy to share an update next year when I can finally get individual insurance that's not tied to my business.

[joanmcq]

I seems that the tedious part is if you may qualify for a subsidy. I don't. I'll be happy to be able to get insurance; the only reason I have it now is because the wonderful state of CA mandates you be offered another 18 months of COBRA after federal COBRA runs out. Of course it's at a 10% over cost premium instead of 2%, but since I'm uninsurable otherwise, I'll settle for filling out a bunch of forms.

[dominoes]

I looked at the app and daunting would describe it, if you're a fifth grader. The reason it's so many pages is because it includes two pages per preson, up to six members of household. And it has all of four or five questions per page. It would be a great addition to a tax software package since it does ask a few income questions. Tricky stuff like how much money will you make next year. The more detailed pages are similar to the Massachussetts Schedule HC without all the boxes to check. You have to be able to read at at least an 8th grade level to figure out how to determine if you fall within acceptable limits for the subsidy but I didn't notice any tables so couldn't work it out for myself. It is only a draft.

[dominoes]

ps. i didn't notice any health question. Bonus!