Obamacare is so new and we always get the question what happens if…

Today I want to address what happens if when I signed up for my health insurance plan and I told them I would make more money than I actually did and I should have been on Medicaid?

When I signed up I told the marketplace or my agent that I was going to make a certain amount of money and come to find out because of various reasons I did not make that much money. In other words I told them I would make more than I really did. And in reality that puts me in a situation where I fall below the federal poverty limit and I should have been on Medicaid. So what happens if my income I actually made for the year 2014 is too much and I should have been on Medicaid?

This question was addressed in an NPR article and, in summary, if you stated that you would make more money than you actually have then your insurance wouldn’t be taken away and neither would your tax credit. Because they were asking you to propose your income it was hard for you to know exactly what you would make so you wouldn’t lose any tax credit or insurance. “Experts assure us that this possibility has been taken into account, and you won’t be punished or thrown into jail or even asked to pay back the subsidies in those situations.” I think the way they are considering it is that you missed out on an opportunity to be on Medicaid which could have cost you little or nothing per month. So you would not be penalized for making too little and receiving a premium tax credit.

This article was written by Tim Jackson, President of The Health Insurance Specialists Inc.

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