Affordable Care Act Summary – Whether you agree with mandatory health care requirement or not; it’s here and I think it’s here to stay in some form. Here are summary bullet points of the plan.
- You do not need to claim your child as a dependent to add them to your family health insurance policy
- The Medicaid plan is being expanded to offer free insurance coverage to low income families
- Some preventative care is now “free”. This list including blood pressure visits, diabetes and cholesterol tests, mammograms, colonoscopies, weight loss counseling, smoking cessation, reduce alcohol use, treat depression, well-baby and well-child visits, vaccinations, flu/pneumonia shots, counseling, screening and vaccines to ensure health pregnancies.
- If you are a business owner you may qualify for the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit
- If your income is within 400% of the family poverty level (FPL) then you can qualify for the health care tax credit (HCTC). This credit can either be applied to your monthly premium or applied to your income tax return when you file.
- There will be a new Net Investment Income Tax of 3.8% for certain individuals with greater than $200,000 in income or $250,000 in income if you are married filing a joint tax return.
- There will be an additional Medicare tax of .9% for people with wages/earnings greater than $200,000 or $250,000 if you are married filing a joint tax return.
- Individual penalty for not having health coverage. This fine starts at $95 for individuals and $285 for a family in 2014 up to $695 for individuals and $2,085 for a family in 2016.
You can go online to find health care coverage at https://www.coveredca.com/ if you are a California resident and https://www.healthcare.gov/ for most other states. Don’t worry about the penalties since they will be assessed through your tax return on what I can only assume will be a new form. Give us a call if you have any questions and we will do our best to answer them.