Mandate Delay = Savings?

[Yagents]

Does anyone here actually have prospects that are buying/have bought 2014 plans because they want to avoid the 1% penalty next year?

I had one 50 yr old guy, who has been uninsured for 20 years, call me about the penalty. He makes 150k, so $1500 would be the penalty. I got him into a2013 5500 BCBS HSA plan for $179/mo. So, after he makes his HSA contribution, and maybe be able to tax deduct the self employed premium next year, he has free insurance for the same cost as his penalty.

There yah go..........A wealthy healthy person wanted to avoid the penalty.

 

[HealthGuy]

Nice example Bill...Until this guys rates explode next year, LOL...thanks Obamacare.

 

[Yagents]

1 year at a time my friend

 

[AllenChicago]

I had one 50 yr old guy, who has been uninsured for 20 years, call me about the penalty. He makes 150k, so $1500 would be the penalty. I got him into a2013 5500 BCBS HSA plan for $179/mo. So, after he makes his HSA contribution, and maybe be able to tax deduct the self employed premium next year, he has free insurance for the same cost as his penalty.

There yah go..........A wealthy healthy person wanted to avoid the penalty.

Thanks for the detailed reply, YAgents. You can still sell 2013 BCBS in Arizona? Lucky you! 8/30/2013 was the cutoff for us.

That's a perfect example of the threat of penalty urging someone to act. It's a good thing this guy was at least smart enough to call you this year and not wait until Jan2014 or later.

After thinking about the Penalty-Tax a bit, I called an uninsured prospect and told her the "IRS School of Sharks" theory this morning. This made her the first person I've talked to who wants to avoid the penalty. A business owner, but is 90% "cash transactions" to keep income very low. Of course, her motivation for obtaining insurance is to avoid paying a penalty to the IRS, which could potentially trigger an audit and expose her true income..among other things.

 

[HealthGuy]

Allen not bein critical but do you and others really think the audit boogeyman arguments gonna work with the self employed who decide to go uninsured or will prompt them to just buy off exchange? Really?

 

[AllenChicago]

Allen not bein critical but do you and others really think the audit boogeyman arguments gonna work with the self employed who decide to go uninsured or will prompt them to just buy off exchange? Really?

I've only raised the prospect of an IRS Audit Boogyman once...and it worked. This was with a prospect who told me at the end of 2012 that she would not buy insurance because it was too expensive, even though she has lots of nice "toys" around her home/business.

So, in answer to your question, HealthGuy... YES.
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Now, back on thread topic. It appears almost certain that enforcement of the Individual Mandate will be delayed, now that Democratic Senators have been briefed by HHS. Apparently they learned in Wednesday's briefing just how bad the Technical and Data problems are. They are also calling for a longer open-enrollment period.

Story: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/24/dems-join-call-to-delay-obamacare-mandate-amid-website-failures/

The only thing keeping more Democrats from signing onto this is that by doing so, they would essentially saying that the Republicans and (especially) Senator TED CRUZ are visionaries!

 

[AllenChicago]

Just heard a news flash that the President has told aids to get together a plan for delaying the individual mandate. It won't be announced until the last hour of the last day of the current Open Enrollment, however.

I don't think the 1% of income penalty threat is causing anyone to buy a plan, but I do know that checking a box on IRS Form 1040, stating that you're breaking the law by not having Minimum Essential Coverage is a motivator to some. (Had a guy like this last week. Cement company owner who never wanted personal health insurance before now.)
ac

 

[HealthGuy]

Allen are you joking? serious question this is getting ludicrous if true

 

[bluediamond]

Yea, Allen you joking? Where did you hear this news flash? I know it's been awful cold up their in Chicago, you not hallucinating are you?

 

[AllenChicago]

Fox News flash at 430pm. Direct tv chan 360.