[tommr]

I will have to check with my accountant when I do taxes. I had insurance thru the end of june so technically I wasn't uninsured this year. 88% of the 7 mil on the exchanges are getting a subsidy or qualifying for Medicaid. that was the purpose of the exchanges. virtually everybody in the private healthcare market that buys their own insurance is paying more--or they are opting for higher deductibles and/or higher copays and narrower provider networks to keep the premium down or at least control it to the upside. many companies have and will convert full timers to 29 hours. a lot of employers/unions are absorbing increases where they can and/or are doing the higher deductible/higher copay angle and passing somewhat higher premiums to the employees or union members. my sister-in-law works for Amtrak and their new plan is a $5k deductible. they held a rally for the employees in her building to roll out the new plan and the guy from DC almost got skinned alive. people were flipping out. in year 2018 the Cadillac tax goes into effect where many plans will be taxed as income and at a 40% rate. the lower end of those health plans are nowhere near what anyone would consider a Cadillac plan. employers and individuals will be forced to up deductibles and copays to avoid the Cadillac tax. I believe this will rock local, state govts as well as private companies and unions. promises have been made to retirees and current employees. the money has to come from somewhere. look for lots of creative ways to raise tax revenues. you can argue that something had to be done but this was never a good idea unless you were a politician. there are no legislative fixes for this and upending the entire healthcare system to qualify 7 mil for subsidies never made sense to me. repubs will nibble away in places where there may be agreement but they know the dems will blame the failure on them if they try to go big. this law is so filled with perverse incentives, dictates, mandates, penalties, etc that tinkering with it creates unknowable problems. plus theres almost no chance the president will sign anything. supreme court will probably uphold that the intent of the law was to provide subsidies to state and federal enrollees in the exchange. if you are on the exchange and live in a state that did not set up an exchange you will probably do ok in the supreme court decision. in my opinion the dems were drunk on power and thought securing this law would guarantee them majorities everywhere into perpetuity. the opposite is probably true. and im not a fan of either party. also the 26 year old will pay very little on the exchange. theres no reason not to sign up when enrollment comes back around next fall. sorry, way long here.