Totally agree that lots of people are stuck- but is the solution really for McDonalds to pay $20/hr or should the government do something about it so there are real jobs above McDonalds?
I think that like most problems facing our country right now, any realistic solution is multifaceted but people are looking for a single silver bullet fix instead.
I think minimum wage does need to go up, and needs to be indexed to inflation based on an annual review like social security payments, but I don't think $20/hr or even the $15 that the recent fast food protests have used as a rallying point is practical. If the minimum wage had been indexed to inflation right along it would be just over $10/hr now.
But I also think government needs to encourage real job growth, particularly small business growth, and that means narrower and more focused regulation. Stop worrying about lobbyists and level playing fields, and write legislation and rules that address the issue at hand. Right now, too many business regulations were/are written by and for the biggest companies in the effected industry in the name of "expert advice" and have become a means of keeping down competition with non-scaleable costs of compliance.
BUT from what i gather you have to give them your life history which they verify with every government entity under the sun (immigration, SS, IRS, Etc) AND EVEN PULL A CREDIT REPORT to confirm your employer- JUST TO GET PRICING.
It seems they insist on figuring out your subsidy information first before showing you pricing. I'd like to see the pricing first and i think so would many others. Probably wouldn't break the website so bad if they allowed a simple price check first.
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Seems I'm the only one here that is actually interesting in an exchange plan right now? I'm kind of surprised by that.
I'm interested, but I always give a new system a week or two to blow the dust off before I jump in, rather than spending my time fighting an overloaded server.
I'm not surprised they want all that information. If they did it without, they'd be getting hammered in the court of public opinion for doing the same thing in the exchange that many health insurance web sites do - providing the "preferred" (lowest rate) quote and then jacking it up when you attempt to purchase because of the specifics of your circumstances.
Are they just pulling a credit report to verify your employer, or will credit rating play into the rates? It does for privately purchased policies, and since the exchange is a collection of policies offered by the same companies that take credit score into account when they set private-purchase premiums I assume they probably will for exchange plans too unless they're prohibited from doing so.
. I played around with the calculator and it told me that if your employer offers coverage you are not entitled to a subsidy... am i reading this correct? The confusion gets me where a family of four qualifies under $90,000. How many people make that with a company that doesnt offer ins. And i thought all employers had to offer ins now.
If you employer offers "affordable" insurance (premium under 9.5% of your income) you aren't eligible for subsidies.
And it really isn't that difficult for a family to make 90K without employer-based insurance, particularly if they are a dual-income family... Many small companies don't offer benefits, but they do employ educated and skilled professionals. And many skilled professionals, particularly in tech or creative fields, are successful in a freelance/contract/self-employed arrangement rather than a traditional job.
Businesses under a certain size - 50 employees, IIRC - are exempt from the requirement of providing coverage. In my town I doubt there's more than 1 or 2 businesses that will be effected by that aspect - most are one or two location, family-owned, and employ a few dozen people at most.
It's just one of the many many things that I'm not sure I understand correctly in all this.
No problem.
