Althouse: "Obama administration officials and other supporters of the Affordable Care Act say they worry that the tax-filing season will generate new anger..."

January 31, 2015

"Obama administration officials and other supporters of the Affordable Care Act say they worry that the tax-filing season will generate new anger..."

"... as uninsured consumers learn that they must pay tax penalties and as many people struggle with complex forms needed to justify tax credits they received in 2014 to pay for health insurance.... The penalties, approaching 1 percent of income for some households, are supposed to be paid with income taxes due April 15. In addition, officials said, many people with subsidized coverage purchased through the new public insurance exchanges will need to repay some of the subsidies because they received more than they were entitled to. More than 6.5 million people had insurance through the exchanges at some point last year, and 85 percent of them qualified for financial assistance, in the form of tax credits, to lower their premiums. Most people chose to have the subsidies paid in advance, based on projected income for 2014. If their actual income was higher — because they got a raise or found a new job — they will be entitled to a smaller subsidy and must repay the difference, subject to certain limits."

The NYT reports.

Via Drudge, who screams: "OBAMACARE TAX MESS: WHITE HOUSE TO OFFER MORE EXEMPTIONS."

59 comments:

Michael K said...: Oh snap ! The jig is up !; 1/31/15, 5:43 PM
Unknown said...: In this case wouldn't this be an issue of revenue thus constitutionally only be able to change if that change originates in the house?; 1/31/15, 5:51 PM
Rusty said...: An unqualified success!; 1/31/15, 5:53 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: Turbo Tax asked these questions for the first time this year.

People who grumbled about paying $300 per month in tax-subsidized premiums may find that they really should have been paying $5-6-700 because they underestimated at the beginning of the year.

I took COBRA coverage when I left the big place to go solo. $1,350 per month for family coverage. We barely ever use any care except wellness and the occasional strep throat. So we are lucky in the health dept.

Cobra at $1,350 per month is a far better deal than I can get on the exchanges since I am not subsidy-eligible. Health care premiums for my family are by far my largest monthly business expense.

They don't charge more for coverage for my robot.; 1/31/15, 5:56 PM
DanTheMan said...: Well, since we are all saving $2,500 a year on insurance, what's the big deal?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15E7goj7Fmo; 1/31/15, 6:02 PM
PB said...: Yeah, look at form 8962...

This has been a disaster of almost biblical proportions for so many people.

So many pushed on to Medicaid who had been paying for their health insurance before

So many people pushed on to Medicaid only to find to doctors will see them, so they defer care until it's a crisis and go to the ER.

Now we know it's going to cost at least twice as much as anticipated and that's only going to grow.

The Republican candidate needs to continually hammer on this as incompetent policy and unethical politics (that passed it).; 1/31/15, 6:03 PM
David-2 said...: "To claim tax credits, consumers need to fill out I.R.S. Form 8962, which includes a matrix with 12 rows and six columns — a total of 72 boxes, to compute subsidies for each month."

But "we're from the government, we're here to help" ...

In any reasonable world the way Obamacare was enacted and its subsequent implementation would make the entire electorate small government libertarians.; 1/31/15, 6:07 PM
JSD said...: All things Obama Care converge on the individual’s tax return. If you don’t have coverage, you’re left filing Form 8965 for the exemption or pay the penalty. Tax preparers will be asking the question.

This year, it’s unlikely that the IRS will have a data base to verify health insurance coverage. But down the road everybody who has health insurance will be receiving Form 1095, either from their employer or their carrier. Just like a W-2 wage report, the IRS will know who has health insurance.

Camel nose meets tent.; 1/31/15, 6:10 PM
n.n said...: Raising the poverty level, extending the age of majority, and taxing everyone else is not health care reform. A clever revenue scheme is insufficient to address progressive costs, missing infrastructure, inadequate resources, hostile environments, and economic lethargy. It only exacerbates the causes when prosecuted on a national scale, far removed from reality.

That said, and that's after premeditated murder of around 2 million unwanted, wholly innocent human lives annually. Congress should ignore Executive and Judicial establishments of religion, and unilaterally naturalize our Posterity from conception, then offer equal protection until a natural birth and legal classification as a "person".; 1/31/15, 6:15 PM
traditionalguy said...: Surprise, surprise. Gruber designed it to implode exactly this way.

National Health Care has arrived behind the smoke and mirrors we were too stupid to understand... except for those horrid Tea Party folks who could see it it clearly and had to be silenced.; 1/31/15, 6:19 PM
pm317 said...: what a clusterfuck!; 1/31/15, 6:22 PM
Sebastian said...: But as we know, the president has "discretion."

Law? What law?; 1/31/15, 6:25 PM
Mark said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/31/15, 6:28 PM
Mark said...: Alternate headline --

OBAMACARE TAX MESS: GOP Congress to let Obama take credit for fixing mess rather than fixing it themselves by passing tax cut bill to eliminate the ObamaCare tax entirely; 1/31/15, 6:30 PM
Mark said...: Alternate headline --

OBAMACARE TAX MESS: GOP Congress to file lawsuit to stop Obama and demand that courts impose the full tax that they claim they oppose; 1/31/15, 6:33 PM
Mark said...: Alternate headline --

OBAMACARE TAX MESS: GOP Congress pushes for elimination of medical device tax on rich corporations while it dawdles and does nothing about the individual mandate tax on lower and middle income Americans; 1/31/15, 6:35 PM
Mark said...: Alternate headline --

OBAMACARE TAX MESS: Having no impact on the "upper middle class," since they get insurance through work, GOP Congress in no hurry to pass tax cut bill to eliminate the ObamaCare individual mandate tax; 1/31/15, 6:45 PM
Pete said...: I'm a tax return preparer and the burden is on me to use due diligence in completing these forms. It's unreasonable to expect me to do the work of the IRS for free and so the cost will be passed along to my clients. Which means those who qualify for the subsidies will end up paying more for tax preparation -in effect, a tax increase on the poor to prove compliance with the very law intended to help them.; 1/31/15, 6:55 PM
Michael K said...: "GOP Congress to let Obama take credit for fixing mess rather than fixing it themselves by passing tax cut bill to eliminate the ObamaCare tax entirely"

Actually, I still think the solution is to simply make Obamacare optional. Then the people who want the crappy coverage and high prices, like Mark, will be free to buy it. The rest of us can find, once again legal, underwritten insurance that pays for catastrophic events and allows the rest of us to pay for routine care, as was the law when I began practice in 1972.; 1/31/15, 6:57 PM
CWJ said...: Mark,

And how pray tell is this "dawdling" 2015 congress supposed to fix people's 2014! tax liability. Hint, they can't.

I've said before that I was shocked by my 40% premium increase this year. That was right before I discovered that the CHEAPEST Obamacare policy $12000 deductible (not a typo) was actually more expensive than my current plan after the increase.

Hey fix that before you bitch about not fixing the no insurance individual mandate tax!

It's people with individual policies that are personallypaying the lion's share of Obamacare's expanded coverage while they do everything possible to shelter the employer provided plans as long as they can.

It's a winning move politically since it leaves most Americans relatively unaffected, while those of us taking it in the shorts were unlikely to vote for the Obamacare supporters anyway.; 1/31/15, 6:58 PM
paminwi said...: Drudge should be screaming! The only thing is most people who read Drudge already know what a clusterfuck this thing is. They do not need any reminding.

It is only the idiots who believed the liar in chief who will be surprised that he lied once again!; 1/31/15, 6:58 PM
mesquito said...: The White House can offer up tax exemptions?; 1/31/15, 7:00 PM
Chef Mojo said...: Hey Mark,

Obama's circus. Obama's monkeys.

So, now it's up to the GOP to pull Obama's balls out of a vice? On something that none of them voted in favor of? I want so many wrenches tossed into Obamacare's guts that it dies a fiery, wretched death.; 1/31/15, 7:05 PM
CWJ said...: "Obama administration officials and other supporters of the Affordable Care Act say they worry that the tax-filing season will generate new anger..."

That's rich!

Right up there with -

Representatives of the Supreme Socialist Soviet worry that the failure to achieve the latest five year plan will generate new anger.

It was passed by one party. It was signed into law as if it was a law. Its title even ends in the word "Act." But there is no law as any reasonable person would understand it. There is no act. There is only whatever expediency will allow the bureaucracy and the politicians who serve them to get from the end of last week to the end of this week. Because worry!; 1/31/15, 7:16 PM
JSD said...: I worry about what ObamaCare portends the future of citizenship in a digital world. At this point, the IRS is incapable of understanding or administering the tax code. All they have is computers for matching data. Computers literally tell IRS employees what to do every day. For the privileged few, lawyers and accountants can be hired to navigate tractor trailer trucks through the arcane tax code and the IRS is none-the-wiser. I think law enforcement is heading in the same direction. Some computer somewhere will have all the answers and administer the rules. Laws and taxes will become something for the little people.; 1/31/15, 7:22 PM
Hagar said...: I worry when I hear Republicans talking about how they have to - and will - come up with a replacement for Obamacare. I do not want a "replacement." I want the Government to get out of the business entirely, including the screw-ups they had already passed into law before Obamacare.

There is an article in The Telegraph about how the NHS is Britain's greatest post-WWII failure. It is there because both (or technically, all) political parties are wedded to it, but it cannot be made to work because it flies in the face of human nature. But even the most conservative politicians Britain has do not know how to get rid of it, so there it is and there it stays - a massive failure and a burden on the British people.; 1/31/15, 7:41 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: CWJ:
Piker. I'm looking at $ 18,000 max out-of-pocket for 2015, and about
$1,300 / month premium.
But we get pediatric eyecare (for my over-21 kids) and obstetric benefits (for my over-50 wife)! Go me!; 1/31/15, 7:54 PM
CWJ said...: Fred, It's good to know that there is someone else out there helping me pay for everyone else's pre-existing conditions. Go us!; 1/31/15, 8:05 PM
Danno said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/31/15, 8:15 PM
Carol said...: I do tax prep too and though we were anticipating a lot of anger, but it's been pretty mellow so far. The poors come in early to get their big refunds and they often are exempt because Medicaid wasn't expanded here.

I kinda think ACA is not going to go away, either. I know a lot ofvery grateful to be able to get the insurance. Then there are the ones who saved up a lot of money and plan to retire early..this is a godsend to them.

Tread carefully, GOP.; 1/31/15, 8:16 PM
khesanh0802 said...: @Fred Drinkwater and CWJ There are a lot of us in the boat that you describe. It's the individuals getting F****d right now but soon it will be the employer plans - albeit not quite as painful since they are before tax and we are after tax. I pray the Supreme Court blows this thing up in the spring. Republicans are going to have to home up with something no matter what.; 1/31/15, 8:31 PM
Danno said...: Even if you don't have a valid excuse (i.e. exemption) the Obamacare penalties were created different than other federal tax penalties, so that the government cannot garnish wages or take other collection actions, but merely can take the penalty out of amounts you have overpaid. Therefore, you could reduce your withholding amounts and pay estimates that are close to your actual tax liability, thus never ending up in an overpaid situation. This penalty avoidance will likely become a cottage industry for tax preparers like H&R Block.; 1/31/15, 8:31 PM
Michael K said...: "There is an article in The Telegraph about how the NHS is Britain's greatest post-WWII failure. "

I read a survey a few years ago when I was studying health reform, that 80% of British surveyed think the NHS cannot be reformed and they should start all over again.

France, which has a good system, is swamped with British retirees who sign up for French health care but have never contributed. They refuse to go back to England for NHS care. Its a real problem for France.; 1/31/15, 8:32 PM
Danno said...: Carol, There were 35 states with high-risk pools that preceded Obamacare. I have personal experience with this and the high-risk pool for my state had a premium about 125% of a normal premium, but it still was much cheaper than Obamacare and its stupid excess mandates. It also had a very wide network. So rather than encourage 15 states to adopt high-risk pools, Obamacare blew up the coverage for everyone in the United States not covered by an employer plan.; 1/31/15, 8:36 PM
Original Mike said...: "So rather than encourage 15 states to adopt high-risk pools, Obamacare blew up the coverage for everyone in the United States not covered by an employer plan."

ObamaCare isn't about health care so much as it is about ideology. The number of people hurt by his arrogance is a tragedy.; 1/31/15, 8:45 PM
CWJ said...: khesanh0802,

Agreed. But that's the (unintended?) genius of the thing. Each source of funding group gets it in the neck one at a time so that the outrage is manageable. The old I didn't object when they came for X because I wasn't X routine.

As you note the employer groups are next, but I expect that the exemptions will be doled out in such a way the financial hit will be rolled from one manageable sized group to another. Instead of the lobster slowly being boiled whole, this is the lobster being boiled one leg/body part at a time.; 1/31/15, 8:58 PM
Big Mike said...: Even if you don't owe anything, the paperwork to prove that is so daunting that the average taxpayer will have to get an accountant (which means paying money that you he or she shouldn't have had to pay) or spend dozens of hours of what should have been leisure time and still worry that the IRS will come after him or her.

Fundamentally the Dumbocrats are making it up as they go along, and the result is like a multi-story building erected without a blueprint or any attention paid to the laws of physics. It's all going to come down on people's heads.; 1/31/15, 8:59 PM
Paul said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/31/15, 10:18 PM
Paul said...: I say Republicans ought to just pass a repeal amendment every 3 months and force Obama to VETO it.

Just do that and nothing more. Then in 2016 the anger will be so great on Obama and the Democrats.

Just a handful of Democrats would OVERRIDE any VETO but if they stick to the sinking ship, the Obamaantic, then in 2016 a Republican President and a super-majority.

And if just enough Democrats do vote for a VETO override, then Obamacare is kaboshed.

I just don't see how the Republicans can miss if they just do that above. Pass'em and let him VETO it time and time again.

Rub the Democrats and Voters noses in the 'We have to pass it in order to see what is in it' crap Pelosi and Reid pushed on us.; 1/31/15, 10:21 PM
Anonymous said...: You know what else doesn't work? Social security retirement.

Making a promise that if you as a young person pay an old person that someday a young person will pay you based on what you paid out--where is the "sustainability" of that?

And if you pay in for many years, start collecting and then die, what can you leave to your spouse or children? Not any cash balance like in a savings account.

Rich people put away actual money in regular payments to an account that grows with compound interest. Your government accepts regular payments but only grows its promise to coerce more young people on your behalf. You really have nothing but Uncle Sam's promise to strongarm someone on your behalf. Gives you a nice warm feeling, doesn't it?; 1/31/15, 11:07 PM
MadisonMan said...: The real anger will start when people with gold-plated health care from companies (and states) start getting taxed heavily for the luxury. That won't start 'til after the next Election.; 2/1/15, 12:11 AM
Fred Drinkwater said...: Let me add: due to the unforeseen (unforeseen, I say!) mixup between my own careful financial and lifestyle planning, and Obamacare, my health insurance costs (note: not health care expenditures) are now my largest budget line item, by far.
I vigorously lift my middle finger in the general direction of DC.; 2/1/15, 12:54 AM
Michael The Magnificent said...: Obama administration officials and other supporters of the Affordable Care Act say they worry that the tax-filing season will generate new anger as uninsured consumers learn that they must pay tax penalties and as many people struggle with complex forms needed to justify tax credits they received in 2014 to pay for health insurance.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of fascists. ESAD Obama voters (I'm looking at you, Ann)!; 2/1/15, 1:04 AM
Revenant said...: GOP Congress to file lawsuit to stop Obama and demand that courts impose the full tax that they claim they oppose

Is it that strange to you that people could want our chief law enforcer to obey the law, even if there are laws we disagree with?

Apparently.; 2/1/15, 1:08 AM
jeff said...: "...that pays for catastrophic events and allows the rest of us to pay for routine care, as was the law when I began practice in 1972." Which once was called "insurance".; 2/1/15, 1:36 AM
Kirk Parker said...: Everyone's favorite MD Michael K wins the thread right out of the gate!; 2/1/15, 3:15 AM
Vet66 said...: Obamacare: the gift that keeps on giving. It will be a hard sell convincing younger generations they must buy health insurance most will not need until mid-life for baby boomers needing it in their "golden years." I am a member of the baby boomer generation and pay around $600 dollars a month for myself and spouse. Well patient visits is all we need so far after a lifetime of no smoking, drinking little, watching our diet, and getting moderate exercise. I can sympathize with the millennials who might not be thrilled supporting the elderly after a lifetime of abusing their bodies with the usual vices that cause diabetes, emphysema, accelerated dementia from drug abuse, and the list goes on. Note that doesn't include third world illegals entering the country with their usual maladies burdening a precarious health system. It doesn't look good in the long term for our elderly as they fulfill the "barker" Grayson's prophesy "...Die quickly." This will not end pretty.; 2/1/15, 6:51 AM
Mick said...: Of course the "Con Law Prof" fails to mention the SCOTUS case that could end the whole thing. (King v. Burwell). Of those 85% that got federal subsidies, a large percentage live in the 34 states that did not set up a state exchange. The ACA specifically says that the Federal subsidies are only available in the states that set up exchanges, and the IRS has made a rule that the ACA meant to say that even in states that did not set up exchanges that the Federal exchange would replace it--- which is not what the law (or Gruber) says--- otherwise there would be no reason to set up an exchange in a state! DUH!!
The reason that the state exchange needed to be set up was to comport with the Commerce clause, as Health insurance is a state regulated industry, so as to make the regulation of the exchange and thus the meting out of Federal subsidies "interstate commerce" and legally federally regulated.
Roberts even said so in his approval of Obamacare as a "tax", saying that the states themselves would make or break the law.
Now with this tax season it is set to become more entrenched and more of a clustfuck when it all explodes. SCOTUS should rule immediately.; 2/1/15, 6:56 AM
hawkeyedjb said...: Mark, with his multiple alternative-world headlines, shows current prog thinking on the subject: Republicans are responsible for fixing something created exclusively by Democrats, and if they don't, then the whole mess is the Republicans' fault.

Well, since president Obama has arrogated to himself the discretion to re-write the law at will, why doesn't he fix the problem?

Is it because he doesn't think there actually is a problem?

So what are you all complaining about?; 2/1/15, 7:06 AM
Anonymous said...: Republicans in Congress should abolish the income tax once and for all.; 2/1/15, 7:33 AM
Curious George said...: Mark said...
Alternate headline --

OBAMACARE TAX MESS: GOP Congress pushes for elimination of medical device tax on rich corporations while it dawdles and does nothing about the individual mandate tax on lower and middle income Americans

OBAMACARE TAX MESS: Having no impact on the "upper middle class," since they get insurance through work, GOP Congress in no hurry to pass tax cut bill to eliminate the ObamaCare individual mandate tax

Mark is clearing too fucking stupid to understand that if you eliminate the individual mandate many won't get insurance. You also add hundreds of billions to the deficit.

Idiot.; 2/1/15, 7:53 AM
Curious George said...: "madisonfella said...
Republicans in Congress should abolish the income tax once and for all.

And then there's Penquin stopping by to drop off some stupidity.; 2/1/15, 7:54 AM
Original Mike said...: "OBAMACARE TAX MESS: GOP Congress pushes for elimination of medical device tax on rich corporations while it dawdles and does nothing about the individual mandate tax on lower and middle income Americans"

Most (verging on "all") advancements are happening at the small startup company level. They are not rich. The available investment funding for these companies has dried up. This will have serious negative consequences on new medical treatments.; 2/1/15, 9:09 AM
chillblaine said...: "GOP Congress in no hurry to pass tax cut bill to eliminate the ObamaCare individual mandate tax."

The best way to repeal a bad law is to enforce it vigorously.; 2/1/15, 9:27 AM
Curious George said...: "Mark said...
Alternate headline --

OBAMACARE TAX MESS: GOP Congress pushes for elimination of medical device tax on rich corporations?

My sister does marketing for a medical device firm...her business is down 80%. My buddy works for one...lucky him, they cut half their staff.

Typical lefty idiot.; 2/1/15, 9:53 AM
JAORE said...: Poo flinging monkeys demand more effort by zoo keepers to keep cages clean.; 2/1/15, 10:31 AM
Rusty said...: madisonfella said...
Republicans in Congress should abolish the income tax once and for all.

Congratulations. You've now exceeded garage in dumb.; 2/1/15, 10:34 AM
Anonymous said...: Anyone else surprised that a libtard like Delusional George thinks it is stupid to get rid of the income tax (and thus getting rid of all the loopholes that go with it)?; 2/1/15, 10:34 AM
eddie willers said...: " Which once was called "insurance".

"Major Medical Insurance".; 2/1/15, 3:37 PM