“Our current 2021 healthcare premiums are $1.15 per month thanks to very generous Affordable Care Act subsidies that we receive due to our low ~$45,000 per year Adjusted Gross Income. The benefit of being “poor” on our tax return.
I think it should, but not just because of this example, but more importantly because it reflects the broad – and unfair – approach to social issues where generalized assumptions set policy and create unnecessary spending and liabilities.
The quote above and below are from a blog by a couple with three children who brag how they accumulated sufficient assets to “retire” at age 33 and now have $2,700,000 in the bank and investments and spent the summer traveling the US.
“The “American Rescue Plan Act” passed in March 2021 makes the Affordable Care Act premiums even cheaper through 2022. Households with modified adjusted gross incomes (MAGI) below 150% of the federal poverty level get some silver-level health insurance plans completely free. We opted for a slightly more expensive silver plan that comes with $1,000 in cash back incentive rewards. Our total cost is just over $1 per month now!”
Compare that $1 with what a senior with the same income pays for Medicare, Rx Part D and Medigap coverage – about $350-$400 per month.
Social programs should provide aid to those in need with the objective of helping them improve their situation, not sustain it.
The progressive notion that some troubling situations individuals face – health care, student loans, child care, tax credits, “stimulus” checks, etc. – can be extended to an entire group, even a population is wrong, unfair and unaffordable. And, IMO, leads to a population perfectly happy to be dependent on things like the example above at the expense of others.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Dem’s da rules. Similar for taxpayer subsidized student loans, Medicaid eligibility and a whole host of programs. Here The R idiots are to blame for not offering common sense adjustments to Health Reform, one of the many, many reasons why they are in the minority today and not in the White House.
They are just not as good at buying votes with legislation, and unlike Pelosi, are unwilling to sacrifice moderates to pass legislation that would favor taxpayers – today and tomorrow.
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Yes this makes me mad.
First, $45K is not poor but in the “art of vote buying” it is.
Second, if they are retired as they claim, then let them pay the higher Medicare rates.
Third, not withstanding this couple gaming the system, how much does it cost the government to bill them for that $1.00 ? For $12 a year it would be cheaper to send them medical ID card and forget about them. But I’ll bet they process a bill every month for them.
On the other hand, if these are the rules, just like income taxes, if it is all legal, I am not mad at the couple but Washington for writing the rules in such a way that this is possible. This makes the couple very smart just like anybody who claims all their proper deductions.
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