If you're at 133% poverty in 2014, you'd better forego that 2% pay raise.

[Hello_Kitty]

According to the Kaiser calculator http://healthreform.kff.org/SubsidyCalculator.aspx

I'm assuming a 28 year old non-smoker

At 133% FPL you get free Medicaid - income is $15302

Get a 2% raise that brings your income to $15532. You are now officially ineligible for Medicaid. You must purchase a subsidized plan with your part of the premium being $484.

Congratulations, you just got your pay cut. Low income people may want to keep this in mind. It may not be worth it to get a pay increase if it takes you out of Medicaid and isn't enough to offset the cost of the premiums.

[BzaDem]

1. That is incorrect. The 133% is of income BEFORE any taxes. Getting a tax cut doesn't

affect the threshold for Medicaid in the slightest bit.

[Hello_Kitty]

3. Tax cuts? What have they to do with my post?

[BzaDem]

4. Oh, my bad. When you said 2% raise, I thought you were talking about the raise from the 2% payroll

tax cut.

However, if you are not talking about your payroll tax cut, then what is your point? If we have a choice between no Medicaid and Medicaid with a cutoff, I would easily take Medicaid with a cutoff. You?

[Hello_Kitty]

5. That's not my point.

I think the subsidized insurance is poorly designed in that it discourages low wage workers from seeking higher pay.

[Crazy Dave]

2. I've seen this happen a lot in similar situations

People I know that are applying for food stamps or some kind of medical/prescription assistance. They're all told that they made $25 too much in the last quarter to receive anything.

I was told the same thing at a so-called "free clinic" back in 2008 while I was on unemployment. I was told I made too much on unemployment to qualify for their program.

[ejpoeta]

9. we are $200 over for food stamps. i think that is what makes

middle class people mad about assistance programs. we found a lot of articles cut out when we were going through my dad's stuff that i think my mom had done when we were kids. i think that had a lot to do with his attitude about assistance even though he did qualify for food stamps after my mom died and he was retired from kodak. this was in the late 80s.... he took early retirement to be with my sick mom who died shortly thereafter. kodak was offering early retirement to the old timers i guess. but i digress. people who are above the line but don't make enough to stay above water. they see people on welfare with food stamps and get mad. my brother is like that, though i don't think he is poor.... he just bought a new camper and got a membership at a campsite. he is, i am sad to say, a teabagger. talk about how only illegals get welfare. i told him that was bullshit because you have to prove you are a citizen or have legal residency to get any assistance! i should know.... i have applied enough to know the hoops you have to jump through to get any help. they think it's like some free ride but it isn't. if you get cash assistance they make you 'work' for it. i could go on and on. but it's so easy to make too much it's a joke. or if you don't have kids to support you may end up SOL too.

[SocialistLez]

14. Trust me, it does make people mad.

I had a co-worker talk about her experience when she was off work for maternity leave and she was ineligible for WIC and food stamps.
She just needed it for the time she was off but I guess that didn't matter.

[Crazy Dave]

15. Another similar situation

It was a while back but my cousin was getting food stamps for her and her two children after getting out of an abusive marriage and the ex husband always working under the table so not to pay higher child support. Her old car was always breaking down and was costing an arm and a leg to fix all the time so my aunt and uncle bought her a brand new little Toyota Tercel for her and their grandkids to ride around safe in. She helped make a portion of the payments on it and I guess claimed it on her finances that she reported to the state. Well....you can probably guess what happened next, the state told her she could no longer qualify for food stamps because she now owned to much as far as assets. That or they think if you can afford a new car you don't need food stamps. Nobody thought about that at the time of purchase and her name was on the loan that her parents co-signed for her. I can't remember if she lost her medicaid but thankfully they didn't take that away too from her kids.

[hfojvt]

6. dang, I am already too high

I am at 17,780 for the year. Unless you subtract the $711 I have to pay for retirement and the $4004 I pay for health insurance and the $189.85 that I pay for dental insurance. That knocks my taxable income down to $12,875.18.

Dang, I cannot believe I paid $8000 for health insurance and got nothing for it. I don't even think I went to the doctor this year. I am such a cash cow.

[ejpoeta]

7. i can tell you that we currently get the state health insurance

and have two daughters receiving medicaid and one strictly child health plus. we are right under the line. my husband went so far as to tell his boss he better not give him a raise unless it's a $15000 raise. not that he will get one. he hasn't gotten a raise in like 3 years. we always keep that in mind. i wonder if i won a prize on the radio if it would affect our eligibility for crying out loud. i think low income people think about that a lot.

[Statistical]

8. Technically prizes are taxable income so they would affect eligibility.

Of course most people never claim small prizes on tax return as income. If it was a large enough prize they would file a 1099 with IRS and you would be forced to claim it.

Pretty sad that there is no sliding scale merely a cut off from 100% covered to sorry you are "rich" now.

[ejpoeta]

10. i think that is the biggest flaw with assistance. it's like they are setting people up to fail.

when i was on cash, food stamp asssistance, they made me look for work which was fine. but they didn't care if it was minimum wage. well i have a kid. if i will pay in daycare more than i make what is the damned point. and they do have assistance for daycare i guess, but i heard there was a list for that. if they just shut you off then you are more likely to end up back in the same position. i think it would be better if they stepped you down until you were self sufficient. even then you would be teetering but you would be more likely to be able to keep going and not need the help again.

[Statistical]

11. "i think it would be better if they stepped you down until you were self sufficient."

THANK YOU. My wife works as a mental health counselor and often families of her clients face this problem everyday.

It is insane. One would imagine the govt would rather have someone working making $x and getting some assistance then not working at all. However the flawed system as it is almost punishes those would would try and work some to require less assistance. As a result many say "fuck it" and don't even try the reward doesn't merit the risk.

[ejpoeta]

13. yep. it's not like people want to be on assistance. they want to not need it.

but instead of helping people it hinders them. and you have it exactly right....better to give them $100 in food stamps and maybe medicaid for awhile then paying $450 plus whatever food stamps plus medicaid. at some point they won't need it anymore. i have been there. and it is NO picnic. i don't care what my friggin family says. they envision poeple driving around in fancy cars and living high on the hog when that is the exception. most are working poor who probably don't even have cable. or maybe they have cable and then people think they shouldn't even have that. but when you can't ever go anywhere ever you need SOMETHING! in some ways i am glad they don't know what it's really like. but in others i wish they had to live it so they could understand.

[proud patriot]

12. Single Payer is about to become law in California

Thank goodness