UPDATE !!!:
First two comments! Gotta love DKos!
From the Kaiser Family Foundation,
Health Care Subsidy Calculator
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm very proud of President Obama and our Democratic Congress for enacting historic health insurance reform. I LOVE IT! It has energized Democrats and progressives, in general. It needs to do more of that. Right now, about half the country is in favor of the bill, the other half is against it.
I'm pretty sure that the legislation provides a real dollar-benefit to more than half the population, so our real task is one of education. The Obama administration has embarked upon a PR campaign for the new legislation. This is good! What would be better is to equip all of us with a SIMPLE means of explaining what it will mean to folks, based upon their income and such.
I think it's obvious that none of this information, however accurate, is going to win any arguments with those engaged in Teabaggery. That's really not a problem. The ranks of the baggers are actually sparsely populated. I figure a good 20% of the U.S. population can be convinced that The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will benefit them -- I mean, those not already convinced.
For instance, I've got a person telling me he makes $30k per year, can't afford insurance, and is worried about the mandate penalty. While I can tell him he won't suffer a penalty and will in fact receive a subsidy, I cannot quote even approximate dollar amounts to him. I should be able to do that! I'd be a MUCH more effective advocate if I could! So far, I've found this:
Subsidies will be available to people with an income four times the federal poverty level or less. That’s about $44,000 a year for an individual and $88,000 for a family of four.
Great! But how is the subsidy calculated? I mean, a person making $40k/year will get less of a subsidy than a person making $21k/year, right? How can we estimate this quickly and with nominal accuracy?
Here's the bill,
HERE
I'm pretty sure the information is in there, but after an hour, I can't find it. And if the information ISN'T in there, then that's fucked up. We need to sell folks on specifics and if we don't know the specifics then we've no business acting as advocates. We need the math! If the math isn't simple, then someone needs to simplify it. Approximations are better than nothing. Much better.
Is there a simple on-line calculator for this? Is there a simple equation we can apply? If anyone knows, please post in the comments and I'll update. If anyone finds this information later, please post a diary!
UPDATE OF THE MAJOR KIND:
First two comments! Gotta love DKos!
From the Kaiser Family Foundation,
Health Care Subsidy Calculator
Still, if anyone has the underlying math, that would also be a good thing.
Thx to tardis10 and The Clevelander!