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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

'Family glitch' in health law could be painful

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/09/23/aca-family-glitch-issues/2804017/

A "family glitch" in the 2010 health care law threatens to cost some families thousands of dollars in health insurance costs and leave up to 500,000 children without coverage, insurance and health care analysts say.
That's unless Congress fixes the problem, which seems unlikely given the House's latest move Friday to strip funding from the Affordable Care Act.
Congress defined "affordable" as 9.5% or less of an employee's household income, mostly to make sure people did not leave their workplace plans for subsidized coverage through the exchanges. But the "error" was that it only applies to the employee — and not his or her family. So, if an employer offers a woman affordable insurance, but doesn't provide it for her family, they cannot get subsidized help through the state health exchanges.

Why is this both an "error" and a "glitch?" And why presume in the first place that it was not, in fact, intentional? After all, even the folks in Capital City had to foresee how many employers would be dumping shifting their employees (and retirees) onto the Exchanges in an effort to gain some control over the financial hurdles being placed before them.

Our Elected Betters wouldn't have done something stupid, right?

Right?

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