Pros And Cons Of Obamacare

"What if I cannot afford Obamacare?"

There is no straight forward answer to this question in part because "Obamacare" is a colloquial expression that refers to a 1000 page piece of federal legislation formally known as the Affordable Care Act. Thus, there is no one policy or program known as Obamacare.

In fact, the piece of legislation in question is a comprehensive approach to making health care coverage more accessible to Americans under our existing patchwork of diverse programs. This includes employer sponsored insurance, private insurance, and government programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program).

Below are some of the ways in which low income Americans can access coverage that complies with

Obamacare does not really expand the number of people who qualify for coverage under this program. However, it does improve benefits for seniors.

Thus, lower income elderly Americans should see their coverage improve and their expenses come down if they already qualify for Medicare. Among other things, Obamacare closes the infamous "doughnut hole" for prescription drugs under this program.

The Employer Mandate

If you have a job at a business with at least 50 full-time employees, the employer mandate requires businesses of that size to provide access to employer sponsored coverage. The employer typically subsidizes the cost of coverage. The premium should not come to more than 9.5 percent of the employees income.

This mandate is intended to ensure that more full-time employees can access health insurance through their jobs. There are caps on how much it should cost individual employees.

The Online Insurance

You can find out the current numbers being used to define the federal poverty level at HealthCare.gov: Federal Poverty Level. Use the appropriate figure and multiply by four to see if your income falls below the 400 percent mark.

The Individual Mandate

Although a penalty may be charged if you do not have any kind coverage, there is a long list of exemptions which protect you from having this penalty applied. For starters, Native Americans, individuals qualifying for certain government aid programs (such as Medicaid or Medicare), and people with income below a certain threshold are exempt. Additionally, there are religious exemptions and hardship exemptions.

If you do have to pay the penalty, there are caps on how much you will have to pay. The penalty is the greater of either a flat dollar amount per family member or a percentage of your income. This means poorer families will pay a smaller penalty.

For a comprehensive overview of the penalty amounts, how they are determined and a list of exemptions, check out the Obamacare Penalty Calculator at:

Will you owe a penalty under