UPDATE: This just in from the Washington Post
Chad's dad, Bill Henderson, says otherwise. He tells Peter Suderman that he believes Chad has not signed up for health coverage quite yet. Here's one bit of their interview:
Bill Henderson told me that both he and his son were interested in getting coverage, but that they had not enrolled in any plan yet, and to his knowledge, neither had his son. He also said that when they do enroll, getting the most coverage for the least money would be the goal, and that he expects that he and his son will get coverage under the same plan.
Bill told me that Chad had been looking into plans online. “He told me that there’s different plans. And we haven’t decided which plans to enroll in yet.”
Here's another article exposing the misinformation in this story:
Shock and Awful: Conservatives Already Lying About Obamacare Enrollee Chad Henderson
So maybe Chad hoodwinked The Blaze, too. The story will unfold.
ORIGINAL DIARY:
According to the Blaze, Chad Henderson is a 21 year old student from Chattanooga who is reported as having to pay $175 a month ACA premium even though his income is only $11,500 a year. This is NOT TRUE. It's bogus reporting.
$11,500 is above the 100% poverty level and qualifies for a subsidy.
From The Blaze front page
The Blaze article provides no links to substantiate the $Numbers in their report:
So what’s his monthly premium? Henderson, who reportedly earns $11,500 annually, will pay $175 per month under Obamacare, about 18% of his yearly income.
The article says that Chad could have purchased insurance for $44 a month from ehealthinsurance. There is no way of checking this now; however, the article states that Chad has not been insured for 14 years. Really?
Here's the link for Chad's ehealthinsurance quotes given today. Totally unaffordable! With the new Obamacare exchange, no one will be using ehealthinsurance.
But any discussion of coulda/shouda/woulda is moot because OBAMACARE opened up this week.
I doubt the media will spend much time tearing Chad's Blaze story apart, so I will.
First of all, Chad lives in Georgia, not Tennessee where he attends school. He commutes. Georgia doesn't have a state health exchange so Chad will go to the Federal exchange.
And it is no secret to many that The Blaze is a far right outlet. Today The Blaze is trying really hard to make Obamacare look stupid for young people.
Chad qualifies, barely, for the ACA premium subsidy because his income is 100% of the federal poverty level.
Who is eligible for premium tax credits?
Citizens and legal residents in families with incomes between 100% and 400% of poverty who purchase coverage through a health insurance exchange1 are eligible for a tax credit to reduce the cost of coverage.
And, both Georgia and Tennesee are one of
many states that didn't set up a State Health Exchange, so Chad will use the Federal Exchange.
As you might recall, the Kaiser Family Foundation has provided an online tool to explore what a health insurance premium might be.
Here's what I found out about Chad's health insurance premiums.
Yes, Chad's health premium for the Silver Plan is shown to be $1,761 a year HOWEVER, and this is a BIG HOWEVER, this is Chad's UNSUBSIDIZED premium.
Chad qualifies for a premium subsidy which will reduce Chad's out-of-pocket premium to a mere $19.16 a month.
Below, I have copy and pasted the Calculator scenario I ran, using Chad's information for both Tennessee and Georgia.
What seems to be little known, but what is a huge benefit to low income individuals and families is this. Here's what the Kaiser Calculator has to say about Chat's out-of-pocket deductible and coverage.
You can actually see the Kaiser report for Chad by clicking here.
OUT OF POCKET COSTS
Your out-of-pocket maximum for a Silver plan (not including the premium) can be no more than $2,250. Whether you reach this maximum level will depend on the amount of health care services you use. Currently, about one in four people use no health care services in any given year.
You are guaranteed access to a Silver plan with an actuarial value of 94%. This means that for all enrollees in a typical population, the plan will pay for 94% of expenses in total for covered benefits, with enrollees responsible for the rest.
That's right. Chad qualifies for a better actuarial percentage than a Gold Plan offers. This is progressive.
Whether Chad lives in Tennessee or Georgia, HE QUALIFIES FOR ACA OBAMACARE PREMIUM SUBSIDIES
The following is from the Kaiser Family Foundation ACA Calculator if Chad lives in Tennessee
Again, I input Chad's quote for Tennessee as it was reported by The Blaze
Part 1
Chad's Results, Part 1
Chad's Results, Part 2
And here is Chad's premium and subsidy information if he lives in Georgia Click
hereto see the calculated premium/subsidy.
You see, ACA has foundational principles. A wage earner earning 100% of poverty won't pay more than 2% of wages for the health insurance premium. Quite nifty!
Now, maybe I missed some subtle information in The Blaze article and, if so, I apologize to both The Blaze and Chad.
However, if I didn't misinterpret The Blaze article then, at the very least the article is misleading.
I found this article by searching Twitter for "my insurance premium" because I was curious what people might be reporting.
Chad's story is one of The Blaze's front page stories today and, at the very least
OMITTING IMPORTANT INSURANCE SUBSIDY INFORMATION
The Right Wing is working hard to convince the youth to not sign up for Obamacare.
We must expose their misinformation.
I am willing to retract this story if someone can show me that Chad will actually pay $175 a month.
THE POLL BELOW, sorry. The question was not presented well. What I meant to poll is
Where you aware that a subsidized premium would reduce the % you would need to pay? And reduce your annual out-of-pocket maximum?
Yes would mean, yes I was aware of these two awesome Obamacare features.
No would mean you were not aware.