Insurance thru affordable care act - subsidy

[Marionnette]

Yes to both..that's how I read it. We didn't have to rely on ACA and subsidies (military retirement covers our insurance), but I know that the majority of the refunds we have received is EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit). So that would again, just recouping the subsidies given to those who didn't make enough money.

For the PP, if your income has gone up, you may want to go ahead and change it up.

My comment above was how do the poorer ever get a chance to pay it off? But, don't answer that--it would be off topic and could turn political and ugly.

Then why did you even go there?

The long and short of it is that in the government's eyes, you will be subsidized to cover your health insurance to the extent that the government determines that you qualify for assistance. The truly poor are going to be taken care of, as they always have. Those who faced financial hardship and acquired their insurance through the ACA should report back when their income has improved. If they do not, then there is a possibility that they will have to repay the government for accepting a benefit to which they were no longer entitled.

It is no different from my neighbor who was receiving SSDI for herself and her daughter because her husband is disabled. When my neighbor's own income increased, she was no longer entitled to the full spousal benefits. Once Social Security audited them, they decreased her monthly benefit to where it should have been and then they took more out to pay back what she should not have been getting all of those months prior to the audit. Yes, she was upset and worried how they were going to get by on the reduced income. But it was money that they were not entitled to have in the first place.

 

[supersnoop]

I just came across this article. I don't know if it will be of any use to anyone, but this thread and this article opened my eyes to what could complicate life even more.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tax-refunds-may-hit-due-084734465.html

We always use our refunds to pay off bills and a little bit of fun money. How could taking a refund back from those who can't afford insurance premiums help the people? And I don't know how reputable the writer is. I usually try to research it more, but there are some links in the article.

As I posted earlier, if you no longer qualify for a subsidy, you are required to pay it back. You pay it to the IRS. They, however, are restricted from their normal tactics of collection. They cannot come after you for the money. The linked article shows that the IRS will not issue you a refund if you owe money back for the subsidy. They can't come after you for the money, but they can keep any extra that you've already paid in. Add this to the long list of reasons that planning on a refund is a terrible idea.