This week I just want to touch on one of the complexities of the Obamacare health insurance
(aka, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly called the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or colloquially #Obamacare).
Everyone employed needs to have health insurance. The penalty for not having health insurance during 2015 is 1% additional income tax.
What I found interesting is that you can’t just get health insurance any more. Most people, individuals and the self employed business of 1, must apply during the enrollment period. The enrollment period opens November 15, 2015 for the year 2016. So, if you don’t have health insurance at this point, chances are you can’t get it until next year.
The only exception to not being able to get insurance is if you are a new business applying. Businesses need to have more than just an owner or husband and wife, they need to have two individuals or families on the policy to start during 2015.
This provision is to stop the false use of health insurance of only applying when you have a known malady and then removing yourself from insurance after treatment; then going on again when a new malady irrupts down the road.
I was able to ask an expert,
Which is better, a small business of single people, or each finding insurance on the web in NYS?
Although I expected the group to have greater benefits, the expert said there may be little difference at this point in time. Individual health insurance may be have the same benefits or better than a group. That’s new to this industry, until now, groups always were better off.
Harlan S. Kahn CPA
Paris Accounting Corp
www.parisac.com
