WMTA Shares these commentaries weekly, without taking a position unless otherwise noted, to bring information to our readers Weekly Commentary For the Week of February 26, 2017 Obamacare Heavy By Tom Yamachika, President One of the ideas now working its way through our legislative system addresses the fate of Obamacare in Hawaii. Many are concerned that our federal government will be changing the federal Affordable Care Act, sometimes known as Obamacare. They would like Hawaii to keep it even if the Feds don’t. The version now being considered in our legislature, however, is so ham-fisted in its approach I call it “Obamacare Heavy.” Our federal act works by specifying a set of benefits that all health plans need to offer, called “minimum essential coverage.” Among those benefits are: all major medical insurance is “guaranteed issue,” meaning you can’t be denied coverage, even for pre-existing conditions; the law limits the variables on which the insurance price depends, and health status or gender are not among them; there are no annual or lifetime limits on health care; and insurance companies can’t drop you when you are sick or for making a mistake on your application. The act also tries to spread the costs of minimum essential coverage throughout the population by adopting an “individual mandate.” Everyone, for themselves and for their dependents, must buy health insurance. If you don’t, you pay a penalty that is enforced through the income tax system. Our legislature is now considering Senate Bill 403 and House Bill 552, which would require insurers in Hawaii to issue policies of minimum essential coverage, and then would require those subject to the Hawaii tax system to buy those policies or pay a penalty of $695 (to be adjusted for cost of living) per year. But the federal Obamacare system has various exemptions, including for those who can’t afford the insurance, nonresidents, incarcerated people, short coverage gaps, people who were born or adopted into the household during the year, or people who died. The Obamacare Heavy bills as introduced had none of these exemptions. That would produce curious results like these: Mom, Dad, and Grandpa live together. Grandpa dies in February. Grandpa is claimed as a dependent on Mom and Dad’s joint return, so Mom and Dad are required to have insurance for Grandpa for the whole year. If they insured him until he died, they would pay the penalty for 10 months. Janna lives in Kansas for the whole year, not setting foot in Hawaii at all, but rents out some property in Papakolea. Janna is required to file a Hawaii nonresident return, and is also required to buy Hawaii insurance for the whole year. (Would that insurance even cover her because she lives in Kansas?) Micah is a Hawaii resident but spends the whole year in a prison in Arizona. He is required to buy Hawaii insurance for the whole year. Same result if he was in Halawa. Obviously he wouldn’t be going to his local doctor’s office if he got sick. Kimo is laid off from his job in March, and is barely able to put food on the table for his wife and three minor children. The federal system has tax credits for those unable to afford insurance and an exemption from the individual mandate for those like Kimo. But the credits require the participant to have bought insurance on an “Exchange”; the exchange we in Hawaii tried to build imploded despite sucking up $205 million in federal funding, and the federal exchange probably will go away if the federal law is repealed. One version of the Hawaii bill has tax credits, but there is no exemption, so Kimo could be stuck with the penalty for the whole year. For himself, his wife, and kids, the amount of the penalty could be as much as $695 x 2 adults plus $695 x ½ x 3 kids = $2,432.50. If we are seriously thinking of adopting Obamacare Heavy, we really need to consider working out the details to allow the system to be functional here. PRESS RELEASE-- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Lahaina, HI - WMTA ANNOUNCES SPECIAL SPEAKERS COMING TO PARTICIPATE IN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS West Maui Community Disaster Planning Meetings Scheduled for February 16, 2017 at Lahaina Civic Center Social Hall at 5:30 p.m. Doug Bausch is the Science Advisor for the Pacific Disaster Center. Mr. Bausch has expertise in impact assessment and loss modeling for natural hazards and while at FEMA from 2001 to 2015, provided impact analytics for all Level 1 U.S. disasters. Andrea Chatman is a Disaster Management Applications Analyst for the Pacific Disaster Center. Ms. Chatman has over fifteen years of experience in the field of disaster support and a Master’s Degree in Disaster Science. She is also a member of the South Maui CERT team. The WMTA is working with the Maui Emergency Management Agency, formally called Maui Civil Defense, The Pacific Disaster Center, and the State Department of Emergency Management on developing a customized disaster plan designed to meet West Maui’s specific needs. The isolation from the Islands major hospital and the major airport due to frequent road closures, fires and flooding have highlighted the need for special preparedness planning. The West Maui Taxpayers Association invites you to join us and be a part of the solution to plans that may well be the reason why lives will be saved when disasters strike. Come and Join us! February 16th meeting will be Module One of a series of monthly workshops presented by subject-matter experts, the Hawaiian Hazards and Resilience Program (HHARP), and will provide education and outreach that promotes hazard understanding, and will offer tools and information resources to guide mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery planning for the community. The schedule follows:
These meetings are free and open to the public. Our community is diverse and we need everyone’s participation to develop community plans. More Information on WMTA and Disaster Preparedness can be found at www.westmaui.org Please put these meetings on your calendar and plan to attend! |
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