Affordable Care Act - catastrophic plans cancelled

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by colemj

That is a stretch. We made our residency there because SBI provides an excellent service for cruising boats. Tax considerations were not part of the decision at all. If it wasn't for SBI, we would not be FL residents.

Mark

Not sure exactly what you mean, but using SBI does not necessarily make you a Florida resident nor does it have to. I use SBI but retain my Virginia residency. SBI is just a mail drop.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by colemj

That is a stretch. We made our residency there because SBI provides an excellent service for cruising boats. Tax considerations were not part of the decision at all. If it wasn't for SBI, we would not be FL residents.

Mark

Now wait a second Mark...I have to call BS on this one.
Perhaps some keep their State of residency in a higher tax State, but most of the people I ship to picked SBI for the xax reasons along with the other good reasons. Heck, I cruised with them in Mexico. Retired Cops, Firemen, teachers from California that now are FL Residents cruising the Sea of Cortez after bailing on California for the pension raise in tax savings and SBI helps them do it...perfectly legally I might add...don't want to give the wrong impression that SBI is up to shadey things.

I take orders every day from Cruisers with the "Bill To" address of 411 Walnut St Green Cove Springs FL every day and almost every time the question comes up they tell me how much money they save by using FL as their home state residency rather than the Blue high tax states many of them are from. How they got "a raise" in their pension by establishing the FL residency and SBI was key in doing that. Heck...the good folks at SBI tout that as an advantage of their service. Now maybe YOU don't use SBI to save on taxes but when people are telling me that is why they are there, what am I to think...they are telling me a "You can keep your insurance if you like it" lie?

Set up a SBI West Coast office in California and see how many people would chose the high tax CA over FL to establish their USA Residency out of their moral sense of public responsiblity to help pay for schools, roads, and condoms in schools...ha ha ha. I bet there would be even less people signing up than the 6 that signed up for ACA on the the first day of sign-ups.

[CatInHand]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

I take orders every day from Cruisers with the "Bill To" address of 411 Walnut St Green Cove Springs FL every day and almost every time the question comes up they tell me how much money they save by using FL as their home state residency rather than the Blue high tax states many of them are from.

Like WA? oh wait, blue and no income tax.. Maybe you mean NV...noooo...still no tax. I know! NH!....oh...wait... FL!...no, that's blue too...

Perhaps you meant no sales tax.....but three of those five states are blue as well.

Get a grip. You're so caught up in hating something that you've lost sight of reality

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by CatInHand

Like WA? oh wait, blue and no income tax.. Maybe you mean NV...noooo...still no tax. I know! NH!....oh...wait... FL!...no, that's blue too...

Perhaps you meant no sales tax.....but three of those five states are blue as well.

Get a grip. You're so caught up in hating something that you've lost sight of reality

I think he means most of New England and some of the Middle Atlantic states. They do have some of the higher state income tax rates.

[Tantalus]

I would imagine they would argue that if you did not establish residency somewhere else you would still be considered a resident of the US and therefore still liable for the fine or enrollment. Just a thought.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by CatInHand

Like WA? oh wait, blue and no income tax.. Maybe you mean NV...noooo...still no tax. I know! NH!....oh...wait... FL!...no, that's blue too...

Perhaps you meant no sales tax.....but three of those five states are blue as well.

Get a grip. You're so caught up in hating something that you've lost sight of reality

I'm not sure how it is "caught up in hating" to simply state the reality I experienced for 4yrs of Cruising Mexico plus talking to hundreds of Cruisers around the Country (and world) when they are placing orders. It's not just something I grabbed out of my sternside to igore reality or pick a fight with someone in the Seattle rain.

The reality is that Cruisers that have the option to do so often base their State of Residency in one of the States with no State income Tax. Sales tax is irrelevant to their pension or retirement income since they are not in the State to spend money anyway, remember they are out cruising right, not home or this whole discussion becomes irrelevant. What they care about is maximizing their income (IE minimizing their tax liability) so they can enjoy their time out cruising more.

If the same approach used by many cruisers today can be applied to the ACA decision tree, that is great news and something everyone should know about and put into their Matrix box of decisions. Which is why we sould talk about it in this thread, not to anger people from high tax states or pick fights, or call names, but to discuss out of the box ideas and options for Cruisers.

What's the controversy in that? Where is the Hate? Those type of attacks are why threads like this get shut down by the Mods, unfortunately. If you disagree, or have a contrary opinion to share, why not just give your POV with a little personal experience of the situation thrown in for good measures? I was once all wrapped up in politics, bought into the talking points as some posters here appear to be and then it all changed. I spent 4 yrs out of the Country looking up at the USA from Mexico and Amigo, it isn't a pretty view looking up the skirt! Once you unplug from the system, it's easy to see and frankly laugh at the things people argue about for the sake of having someone to argue with and to divide people for the benefit of the politicians who need us fighting each other rather than them.

Like I said before, the way to go would have been Single Payer, like the smart folks in Canada and most of the world. But unfortunately there was more power to be had in this ACA debacle, more campaign cash to rake in, so now we are left trying to make the best out of the worst situation.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by CatInHand

FL!...no, that's blue too...

FL blue? Guess you don't know who's governor in FL, very conservative Rick Scott. Or about Ted Yoho, congressman and tea party member. Total 17 R, 10 D representatives from FL.

FL, land of the hanging chads that gave the election to W?

Nah. Looks like a lot of red from where I sit.

[CatInHand]

Originally Posted by skipmac

FL blue? Guess you don't know who's governor in FL, very conservative Rick Scott. Or about Ted Yoho, congressman and tea party member. Total 17 R, 10 D representatives from FL.

FL, land of the hanging chads that gave the election to W?

Nah. Looks like a lot of red from where I sit.

I just did a quick look at the last presidential results. I think the reality is that most states are purple, and the whole differentiating based on political party is divisive and does no one any good.

If you don't like where you are, then move. No point in grousing about it.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by CatInHand

If you don't like where you are, then move. No point in grousing about it.

EXACTLLY...Which is the entire point I was making isn't it?
So now if people can move for ACA reasons, just as they do tax reasons that is something we need to talk about.

See here is the problem....
If we can not talk about this ACA with fellow cruisers...then who in the world can we talk about it with that will understand our unique situation? The general public doesn't want to talk about how some guy on a "Yacht" is going to get healthcare, heck they think we are the 1%-er A-holes. So we need to be able to have this disucssion to learn from others on how they are dealing with it. If we can't talk about it here...Then where?

[svmariane]

Originally Posted by CatInHand

If you don't like where you are, then move. No point in grousing about it.

Requesting permission to steal that quote!

[Andrew B.]

Originally Posted by svmariane

Requesting permission to steal that quote!

Well I am pretty sure he got the idea from me, so permission is granted...

[CatInHand]

Originally Posted by Andrew B.

Well I am pretty sure she got the idea from me, so permission is granted...

Just a good idea in general, and applicable to many situations.

[Andrew B.]

Originally Posted by CatInHand

Just a good idea in general, and applicable to many situations.

especially if one has access to a kitchen built motorbike...

be it a she or a he...

[CatInHand]

Originally Posted by Andrew B.

especially if one has access to a kitchen built motorbike...

be it a she or a he...

motor oil, olive oil, whatever works....

[HBWT]

Let's try and answer some of the questions posted today.

The state is the mandated party to control the ACA implementation. The federal government will control until 2017 the grant funding and tax credits issued but will relinquish full control to the state. It's the states responsibility to understand its health market and subsequent tax policy to afford the tax credits in the future. A majority of the estimated funding will come from new taxes on insurers and providers.

States that do not have an exchange will still be responsible for cost control past 2016. They do no have a choice of participation.

Yes insurers have a federal backed guarantee until 2016. We call this RAC, and the government is guaranteeing insurers if cost projections fall outside of 7%. In simple explanation, no insurer would have issued policies because they have no format to compare the actuarial cost with the new health mandates. In order to insure the carriers, the government is offering RAC if the actuarial value is missed for the first 2 years.

Insurers are mandated to comply with a 80/20 rule. 80% of all health premiums must be spend on actual healthcare and 20% is the max allowable for administrative. If this is broken you will receive a refund for your pro-rata difference.

A lot of talk today about taxes and the federal deficit and while the Medicaid expansion will lend a portion of cost to our long term federal debt projections (State run but partially federal funded), the actual tax credits/ cost sharing will be deficit neutral. This is due to the states being the ultimate responsible party and must find tax revenue to control tax credits.

As always, the sky is not falling but it certainly is raining. You figure out which you want more.

I'll keep checking back to see if more questions are posted that I can help answer.

Cheers