OT-Insurance coverage question in 2014.

Before the question, here is a request. Although there is a political touch to this question, please avoid it. I am not interested in politics as much as I am interested in my health coverage.

The web is flooded with praise and complaints of Obamacare. I also read a column on AMEX open forum that insurance premiums are going to shoot to offset costs involved to cover few things mandated by Obamacare. They also mentioned a possibility of small business owners dropping health insurance coverage to their employees.

DW works for a mom and pop PT clinic that offers health insurance to only 3 of its ~20 employees and we are the only family in those 3. In a worst case scenario, our health insurance coverage is dropped at 1st Nov 2013 (thats when its up for renewal), does anyone have any idea, how you can go about? Has anyone tried getting health insurance coverage with UC and not through employer?

I understand this question may be too early to answer. Even DW's boss doesn't know what its gonna be in Nov'13 but the worry almost kills me everyday. I do not expect any concrete answers because nobody really knows how Washington will play during this year. I just want to know what options do I have, if any. (To add complexity to the question, our family is on work permit in the US i.e. I will not qualify for government assistance, if any.)

Thanks in advance.

Some smaller employers, such as yours, are under no obligation to offer healthcare coverage at all under Obamacare since the new law does not apply to employers having less than 50 employees. If your company decides to drop your health insurance they won't even face a penalty for doing so. The new law does offer small businesses tax breaks for providing health insurance for it's workers. Depending on what the policy premiums are and the amount of the tax breaks, it's difficult to say what your employer would do. That's probably why the boss has said he doesn't even know what is going to happen. Fortunately your policy goes until Nov and most of the new law takes effect in January, at which time you cannot be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition and you cannot be charged a higher rate because of it. If your employer does drop coverage by current law they have to offer you COBRA coverage for 18 months and they would have to cover your pre-existing conditions. Unfortunately, they can not only charge you for the newer November rate but you would have to pay 100% of the policy premium and your employer would not be putting anything toward the costs, which can be quite expensive. How much do you pay for your coverage now?

Also, beginning in October, your state must begin offering policies through Health Care Exchanges starting with coverage beginning January 1st. Assuming your company decides to drop your health insurance you will be able to see in October the cost of your policy and the amount of the subsidy available from the government. I'm assuming you earn enough to file taxes on a U.S. tax return so, in that case, I believe the subsidies available will also be available to you. You will know a whole lot more come October, probably including whether your employer will keep on offering you insurance or not. I'm guessing that they will but it all depends on them crunching the numbers and seeing where they stand. There are a lot of variables, one of them being you may have to go without insurance for 2 months or you may have to pay COBRA insurance rates for two months, probably the better option. You may find the following link useful:

http://healthreform.kff.org/Subsidycalculator.aspx

Your wife's plan should be grandfathered so there shouldn't be a cost increase to her employer from Obamacare itself.Just the normal cost increase for increasing health cost. Most current group policies far exceed the mandates in the legislation. Most people do not realize this. With such a small company and only 3 people on the plan, she should be able to discuss the actual cost increase and what can be done to keep the plan with her employer.

Worst case ,if you lose coverage, is a lot better for you because in 2014 the state market place and ban on charging or rejecting for preexisting conditions. The Obamacare rules will eliminate some of the individual policy offerings but honestly nobody would want that kind of coverage especially a UCer. The coverage requirements simply are not the great. You can choose a new plan that meets the law from the market place. As far as I can tell, there is no prohibition on companies marketing non-conforming plans that still meet the insurance requirement just not on the market place.

The big issue is going to be employers and insurance companies continuing to use Obamacare as a scape goat. Employers to increase contributions or drop coverage. Insurance companies to increase rates. My insurance company jacked my rate way up last year and this year. The healthcare law forced them to rebate most of the increase last year and I expect that to happen again.

In summary, both sides exaggerated the changes in this law but the ban on preexisting is a MAJOR win for UCers.

RHtexas: Starting in 2014 they cannot charge you a higher rate due to a pre-existing condition. You should click on the link I provided above and you can get a good idea of what you might expect to pay including the subsidies provided by the government. They are actually quite generous.