Subsidy % decrease from 2014 to 2015?

[Gretel]

I am just looking up some information on this website: http://www.valuepenguin.com/ppaca/exchanges

I noticed that the subsidy decreased from 2014 to 2015 by quite a bit with the same income. Premiums went up only a little. Do the subsidies decrease every year until they run out?

[Koss]

Subsidy

For the website you identified, I plugged in one very simple data set for Franklin County, Ohio, and got the opposite result.

46-year old nonsmoker, no spouse or dependents, income of $18,000.

For the first silver plan in the list, the subsidy for 2015 was more than the subsidy for 2014.

I'm not convinced that the data on that site is entirely accurate. To get real numbers, you have to actually submit an application at healthcare.gov, with a live taxpayer.

One more observation: When comparing 2014 premiums and subsidies to 2015 premiums and subsidies, if you really want to hold all variables constant, you need to change the taxpayer's age by one year, because it is the birthdate that needs to remain constant. But even if you do this, the subsidy is still going to increase in Franklin County, Ohio.

BMK

[Gretel]

Thanks Koss, also for the reminder of the age change, which I hadn't done. However, this is just a minor change in the premiums. I agree, that the numbers on this website are close but not the actual numbers. I will not hesitate to use them to come up with my calculations for the tax return though if the taxpayer did not actually apply. Who is ever the wiser.

Back to the calculations: I inserted the numbers from last year for a family of 3. 2014 total premiums were 691.17, subsidy 603.72 for monthly costs of 87.45. 2015 premiums 736.07, subsidy 581.84, monthly costs 154.23, which is about double from 2014. This is for Musselshell County in Montana.

Very interesting that you come up with the opposite result. Montana did not expand Medicare but I don't think this has anything to do with this.

[Koss]

Premiums?

If you have more than one premium, shouldn't it be premia?

BMK

[Gretel]

I have a good excuse: Germany - thanks for pointing this out to me though.

[Koss]

Premiums

I have a good excuse: Germany - thanks for pointing this out to me though.

Gretel, I was kidding around, looking for some comic relief, in what has to be the most mind-bending tax season we have had in many years

Dictionaries indicate that both premiums and premia are correct, but that the overwhelming majority of English speakers use premiums.

Most people have never even heard the word premia.

BMK

[Burke]

Yup. That is a first for me.

[Koss]

Plural form

Yup. That is a first for me.

Well, but you have heard bacterium and bacteria, right?

BMK

[Burke]

Absolutely. And media and medium, criteria and criterium, modus and modi......I took lots of Latin.

[mactoolsix]

I am just looking up some information on this website: http://www.valuepenguin.com/ppaca/exchanges

I noticed that the subsidy decreased from 2014 to 2015 by quite a bit with the same income. Premiums went up only a little. Do the subsidies decrease every year until they run out?

The subsidy depends on the SLCSP premium, which could and will change each year. That's why it's important for each subscriber to return the marketplace to verify the upcoming years PTC. Various States could have premiums go up or down.

The claim is that all the competition in the marketplace has caused some companies to lower their premiums to attract more clients.

My question is how the heck did we get pulled so deep into computing our clients healthcare costs??!!$#@@!!?

Mike

[Gretel]

Mike, your explanation does not fit with my experience. In my response withing this post I gave the actual numbers. Premium went up but subsidy went down.

[Corduroy Frog]

Still don't unnerstand

......I took lots of Latin.

Once I took Lantern too, but still fail to see the light.

[mactoolsix]

Mike, your explanation does not fit with my experience. In my response withing this post I gave the actual numbers. Premium went up but subsidy went down.

Gretel,
I see you post with the example figures. Are you using the Bronze plan premiums?

On the value penguin PPACA/Obamacare page is an in depth explanation "The Silver plan is your actual subsidy."
Since a Silver plan is being used as a benchmark, the change in the Silver benchmark plan will effect the bronze plan subsidy. Thus a Bronze premium may rise while the change in the benchmark plan is what is actually used to determine the subsidy.

I think you would need do compare silver plan premiums and subsidies for the two years to come to a realistic conclusion. If that's what you did, my thought process just sank.

Mike

[Gretel]

Thanks, Mike. I did compare the credit for silver & bronze and was surprised to see that it was the same amount.

[TaxGuyBill]

Thanks, Mike. I did compare the credit for silver & bronze and was surprised to see that it was the same amount.

The Premium Tax Credit does not change between plans. It stays the same because it is based on the Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan. The credit is the same for the lowest cost Bronze plan or the highest cost Platinum plan.