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I Am Always Broke, but I Have Health Insurance.

Discussion in 'Politics & Religion' started by dscurlock, Aug 24, 2014.

  1. #1
    Everyone gets my income, but me...

    Do I live Free and have all the money I need, or keep paying
    everyone else month after month, and be broke all the time....

    Rent, Health Ins, Car Ins, Life Ins, food, house bills, credit card bills,
    car payment, and everything else in between....

    When I look back to those that earn $10/hr....
    I just do not see how you live at all....or
    maybe you just simply live with nothing....

    I earn quite a bit of income, but at the end of the day, it
    is mostly gone, and if I am able to save $250 in a month
    then I am lucky (from what I make)

    But hey, at least I have Health Insurance...last year I paid
    nothing for prescriptions; today, $10/script...thanks ObamaCare....
    Went in for surgery 1 yr ago, come out with a $3k bill (after insurance)
    and I am still paying on that too. Health Ins = $600/mo....
    on top of life bills, now I am bogged down with medical bills....
     
    dscurlock, Aug 24, 2014 IP
  2. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

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    #2
    Come down to NZ :)
    We still have medical insurance but that's to "queue jump" - if it's anything acute then you're into our brilliant free hospitals anyway.
    Credit card bills don't count as an expense -it's what you've used the card for that is the expense - make sure you pay them off every month.
     
    sarahk, Aug 24, 2014 IP
  3. dscurlock

    dscurlock Prominent Member

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    #3
    You are being technical, credit card is a bill you have to pay back...
    I could very well not pay anything back, drop every insur
    I have, and that will be $1000/mo more cash right there....

    "pay them off every month" sometimes that is easier said then
    done; Since everyone else gets most of my cash each month, then
    sometimes credit has to be used, and some things not so cheap
    that can be easily be paid off month after month.....

    like I said; easier said then done....
     
    dscurlock, Aug 24, 2014 IP
  4. NetStar

    NetStar Notable Member

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    #4
    You should never use Credit Cards as loans even if it's short term. You should consider the Interest rate as a penalty fee. As a best practice I have always paid for everything on my Credit Card then paid my debt immediately with my checking account. This way I only have to trust a major financial institution with my banking info.

    If you are complaining about having no money AND you have a job you may just be a bit misguided. Figure out your Debt to Income ratio. If over 40% of your net income is going out to bills (Mortgage, Car Payment, Loans, Credit Cards, etc.) you are setting yourself up for failure. Try keeping that ratio under 35%. Create a spreadsheet and monitor all of your expenses, income, debt to income, and total debt. Also get a checking account where you can monitor all of your transactions. If you aren't spending a lot of money perhaps you have a job that isn't paying enough. So start seeking new employment..
     
    NetStar, Aug 24, 2014 IP
  5. Obamanation

    Obamanation Well-Known Member

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    #5
    Your problem stems from the fact you earn too much. The progression between earning 29k/yr and 70k/yr can often work against you, causing you to actually take home less, depending on your situation and your deductions, and the ACA is no different. If you are single and making more than 40k/year, you are considered above the threshold requirement for subsidies that help the poor. The ACA more than doubled the cost of insurance for those under 50 (for my family, it raised my premiums 133%), so if you aren't receiving subsidies, you are probably feeling the pinch because the government feels you can afford it.

    Here is a chart that somewhat explains how these assistance cliffs work for single mothers, but there are similar charts that apply to your situation, perhaps with not quite as dramatic of a donut hole.

    [​IMG]


    If you can't push your income significantly above 80k, my advice would be to stop working so much and try to get your declared income under 25k. Perhaps take up a job with under the table income, like drug sales, or prostitution.
     
    Obamanation, Aug 24, 2014 IP
  6. NetStar

    NetStar Notable Member

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    #6
    HORRIBLE ADVICE!!!!!! "The progression between earning 29k/yr and 70k/yr can often work against you"?????? Bullshit!! There's a HUGE difference between earning a gross of $29k and a gross of $70k!!!!! And how dare you post a Welfare Assistance chart to attempt to prove you skewed point.

    While it's true the more you earn the more you pay in taxes it's absolutely FALSE that the more you earn will yield you less than someone who earns less.

    As for posting a Welfare chart and making a comparison to a single mother that's absurd.
     
    NetStar, Aug 24, 2014 IP
  7. Obamanation

    Obamanation Well-Known Member

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    #7
    How dare I post a chart? Bullshit? Are these considered fact filled and compelling arguments where you come from? Perhaps you didn't understand the chart?

    It wasn't just about Welfare, but also EITC, EBT, Section 8, the ACA, and a variety of other subsidy programs we have for the poor. It spoke to effective take home income. Like most of these programs, EITC and the child tax credit both directly translate into after tax dollars, and have fairly steep cliffs. Once you hit their phase out numbers, the government dings you an additional $200 for every $1000 of before tax income above the threshold(~$600 after tax income). Sure you still get to pocket $400 of the $1k you earned, but it isn't exactly inspirational to earn more unless you are going to push things up significantly, because you don't get to keep much of what you earn.

    You mean your emergency rooms aren't flooded with illegal immigrants who can't pay for the services? I guess it is a long swim.
     
    Obamanation, Aug 24, 2014 IP
  8. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

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    #8
    Ours tend to be "overstayers" and they can often get residency if they can prove that their home country can't provide the medical care they get here. There was a hell of a stink recently when a young man with kidney disease got sent back to Fiji - effectively to die. It's ghastly when you actually put a face to the stats but the reality is that we can't be the Pacific's hospital service. We do have some cool projects though where the NZ government funds dialysis units in the Islands to allow sick people to return home and get the care they need and not be trapped in NZ - and it frees up our resources and social support because we're not having to house them and provide a sickness benefit.

    And I did a "calculator" recently for a client where we showed how people on a benefit could afford to buy their own home - often more easily than those on a middle income - because of the government "hand ups". I'm happy to share that if anyone wants to take a look - the problem isn't just in the US - and it's a problem that I'm sure the policy makers sweat over because they want to help the poor without kicking middle income earners in the balls.
     
    sarahk, Aug 24, 2014 IP
  9. Obamanation

    Obamanation Well-Known Member

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    #9
    Yes, we get the over stayers as well, on top of the millions who walk across our porous southern border. In California, the public health (Medi-CAL) service centers are awash with them. When I first moved back from Central America a few years ago, my wife took our kids their to get them caught up on the US required vaccinations, and she was literally the only non-Hispanic person there. At least in California, they have stricken ID requirements from all the government forms to be accepted for service.

    Those programs work very well if you can get past two pre-requisites

    1) Lack of corruption within the government that manages them
    2) A culture that looks down on those who decide to surf/abuse them.

    Its sad to say, but the US ranks 19th on the corruption perceptions index, behind a few island states in the Caribbean. There are 49 million people in the city of Los Angeles alone, more people than six of our least populous states. This is a city that graduates just over 60% of it's high school students on an annual basis. We have far too many people for there to be any cultural norm, or even effective oversight on these programs.

    Obviously, Sweeden, Norway, NZ, and the Kibutz in Israel are going to have far more success with them than we ever will.
     
    Obamanation, Aug 25, 2014 IP