Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
How about these -
http://thefederalist.com/2015/02/16/five-easy-ways-to-game-obamacare/
Five Easy Ways To Game Obamacare
2. Understate Your Income
4. Buy it. Change it. Use it. Drop it#2 - Your application, like IRS filings, is made under pena…
No you do not have to be working.
Okay, I adjusted by using Cobb county - a discount of $345.32, and a plan cost of $222.80. Same premium difference between the plans - $40 less for Kaiser.
Kaiser is a true, traditional HMO - it uses its own doct…
The lower your federal (not combined) rate is, the less of a factor the tax consequence would be. I-bonds, like other US debt, is not subject to state income tax.
In the long run, if you believe the Fisher hypothesis (that nominal interest rates …
I would be interested in seeing some articles along those lines, seriously. After finding Fox on one side saying that the intent was different, and Obama on the other saying that this is a loophole being exploited mostly by the wealthy, I have to w…
This is the BCBS Bronze Pathway X HMO 5500 40 (the 5500 referring to the deductible, the 40 referring to the coinsurance of 40%).
Are you sure about subsidy/premium figures? They look backward to me. I looked in Atlanta, and got your numbers almo…
A little confirmation about what I was saying about the Wellmark Iowa narrative:Executives from [Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield and Coventry Health Care] said the premium increases are fueled by higher-than-expected health care costs, includi…
Nice to see Ted is up and about.
We're heading into end of year tax planning season, so my first thought on seeing the thread title was: I didn't think the 60/40 rule on taxing foreign currency was changed in the budget agreement.
Yes, I go for…
I have a friend who is an insurance agent in Iowa. He told me that Iowa Wellmark BCBS's experience in 2014-2015 is that people signed up, got insurance, got medical treatment and then cancelled their insurance. BCBS was out about $10 million in Iowa…
When I checked last year for the adult son of a friend of mine, we learned that his taxable income was too low to qualify him for the credit. And because he lives in a state that has so far refused to enlarge their Medicaid program, he doesn't quali…
Addendum: I have not figured out marketing strategy of insurance companies. I know one insurance company (generally one of the lowest price ones in its region) that in 2015 offered its plans on-exchange in several counties, but only off-exchange …
All ACA metal plans (i.e. except catastrophic) offered on an exchange are tax credit eligible. These are plans for everyone.
Are you talking about a metal (ACA-qualified) plan or some other plan? Non-exchange qualified health plans are typically…
File and suspend has gotten a fair amount of coverage. There are some threads (including one of my comments) on M*. Michael Kitces put up a post about four days ago.
https://www.kitces.com/blog/congress-ends-file-and-suspend-restricted-applicat…
All metal plans should be tax credit eligible, so the answer to your first question should be "no", they're open to everyone.
I'm not sure I understand your second question - premiums are subsidized via tax credits. If you're asking can you get th…
Ya gotta give me somethin' to work with - a zip code, a state, a description of a non-eligible plan. All I see in my area are plans for 2015, and all are tax credit eligible. Site I'm using is: https://www.costcoquote.com/indv-quote
Best guess,…
So what is behind this, so far, 46% failure rate?
To a pretty fair degree, that Congress changed the rules on risk corridors in midstream so that many insurers were deprived of expected payments from the risk corridor program.
Gotta love HealthAf…
You do have until mid January, but that insurance isn't retroactive, so you'll be risking a coverage gap in January. (I've done that myself in the past, pre-ACA, to save on premiums, but you have to be in good health and recognize the risks. The…
There wouldn't seem to be much reason why quotes would (or could) change once posted.
This is an industry heavily regulated by each state. Insurers have to file rate requests (at least for requests above 10%), states dictate their final rates. …
The title should be Suspends Relationship with NBC (no 'C'). That's a big difference. Also not nearly as justified IMHO. NBC News has much more competent people than the clowns on the last debate.
Your critique of the "debates" (all of them) is…
Don't really have time to dig up more articles...buying a new house! But just wanted y'all to know my premiums went up 25%. Going to shop around when I have time. If anyone finds a GREAT deal, please let us all know! Thanks!I've tried to give a …
I'm inclined to concur with Derf. The comments about investment grade bonds also defaulting did not make me comfortable, especially since they seemed to be telling only half the story.
Sure there are few AAA rated US corporates now, but that coul…
Firstrade - at least physically, I can assure you that it is not in a back alley. Its old location was indeed a couple of blocks into an older industrial area of Flushing (i.e. toward Willets Point where Citifield is), but their new digs are half a…
And yet, Caremark's member site still shows Philidor when you do a search for pharmacies:
PHILIDOR RX SERVICES LLC
330 S WARMINSTER RD STE 350
HATBORO PA 19040
855-744-5791
Services and Programs
Use this as my primary pharmacy
Price a drug at t…
One of life's little ironies ...
Each state creates its own list of Essential Health Benefits (EHBs) that must be included in all ACA plans. The states have a choice of benchmark plans they can use to define their EHBs.
One of their choices i…
Thanks David. I've got my own list of factcheck links, but the National Review quote you found may say it best:Congressmen and their staff, then, are getting a questionable workaround from the law — but it's from a provision of the law that treated…
As a legal matter, grandfathered plans may exist indefinitely under ACA. As a practical matter, insurance companies terminate plans and start new ones all the time.
You may be confusing grandfathered and grandmothered plans. The ACA does not ba…
Three sites that may provide a bit of a broader perspective (beyond individual anecdotes):
KFF analysis of 2016 premium changes (Oct 26, 2015): The price change for 2016 of benchmark plans (2nd lowest silver plan) ranges from -10.6% to +40.9% depen…
"Can you tell me what is the cost to manage the SS program or where these funds come from?"Since ,January 1, 1940, all administrative costs have been paid from the trust funds
"Can you tell what the cost to administer the program is as a % of payout…
About the cartoon and about the joint effort of the NY/Chi cartoonists:
http://www.newsday.com/opinion/mets-vs-cubs-davis-vs-stantis-cartoons-1.10980182
The Marketwatch column confuses "elderly inflation" with inflation experienced by SS recipients (and also with CPI-E).
Here's SSA's page discussing the objective of cost of living adjustments, and how they relate to price indexes.
Among other thin…
Summary prospectuses typically state that the statutory prospectus and SAI are incorporated by reference. So these more complete documents are an integral part of what you are reading.
The change here concerned the closing and opening of funds. R…
The graph posted, in so far as it represents median PPP household income, and poverty level income for the US seems sound, as others have said. However, an implicit statement in the graph (made explicit in the cited paper's next graph and associat…
Actually, Will is a syndicated columnist; IBD merely purchased rights to reprint this column from the Washington Post Writers Group. You can find the original at the Washington Post here. Or if you want to read it at the syndication arm of the P…
@davidmoran
It seemed to me that OJ offered the graph as evidence that most of the money was going to Republicans. The graph did not support that thesis. Something may be true, but if the evidence presented is only circumstantial, that should be …
@LewisBraham
Agree with the problem statement (giving money too much free rein). But regarding money as speech, how soon people forget ...
"Buckley v. Valeo [424 U.S. 1 (1976)] is significant for having introduced the notion that spending money …
Because the image isn't dollar-weighted, it isn't all that meaningful.
It's like saying that the average fund ER is 1.19% (by counting all funds, or in the picture above, all boxes, equally). What is meaningful for fund investors is how much the …
The decision was actually closer to Gundlach $67M, TCW $433M.
Gundlach had made a claim for $500M based on a personal oral five year service contract. (I'm wondering how his lawyers argued that the statute of frauds, that requires contracts to be …
This really strikes home for me. I was at a small startup that never had a shareholder meeting or board election since the day it incorporated. After several years of this, a majority of shareholders (in both numbers of bodies and more important…
Not sure what you have in mind here, so let's try a simpler question. What would APY for an individual bond mean for you? I see various possibilities:
A bond typically has coupon payments twice a year, so its APY (using compounding, like a bank…
Here's how the WSJ "self reported" the incident.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/dow-jones-discloses-customer-data-breach-1444406517
"Data breaches have become increasingly common among private companies and government organizations. Last year, 43% of …
