I don't see how payroll tax holidays help business owners.

1099s pay both sides, and it is based on annual income. The IRS has no way to know what month I made money in, only how much I made that year. Are they somehow going to prorate mine too?? If not, that's bullshit. The business owners need relief as much as or more than employees, and many are above the income threshold for the stimulus checks.

Sinus- yes, the individual market isn't the best situation right now. I help pick the best of the shitty options and ensure people cover things they didn't think about - like lost time from work. Most people can't afford an $8000 deductible. If you throw 3 months of recovery on top they'll never get out from under that.

WA state was better off before the ACA.

We had WSHIP which was a high risk pool, and everyone applying for coverage had to answer a booklet of questions, unless they had lost prior coverage. It had something like 230 conditions listed and each one had a number of points attached. If your conditions added up to more than 325 points then you were declined and automatically eligible for WSHIP high risk plans. They were pricey, but they were extremely benefit rich and had no waiting periods if I recall correctly. Traditional plans had a 9 mo wait, waived if you had prior coverage. You couldn't be dropped for getting a high risk condition either.

The high risk pool was funded by insurance companies. It allowed normal folks to have great low rates and a few to have higher rates in exchange for a much better plan. It was a great system. BTW- It was very rare to have someone go to the expensive WSHIP plan. Like VERY rare. I did one or two a year.

If the ACA was based on the old WA model it would have been a wild success. Guaranteed issue is a bad thing. It allows too much abuse and people don't have to pay in (for say 9 months) before their pre existing conditions are covered.

The ACA dictates the benefits (10 essential), the max out of pocket (8150 for 2020), the premium (3:1 rule), eliminates underwriting (guaranteed issue) and dictates business rules (such as 3 mo grace periods). What's left? Network! The ONLY thing an insurer can control cost with is network. That's why you no longer see PPO plans and they're all HMO or EPO. The networks are smaller because the insurance companies pay docs less.

The state is trying to control that aspect too with the new balance billing rules. While they are a good thing for consumers, it will result in further premium increases. We're very close to WA flipping over to state run healthcare. They won't allow ANY non ACA products in WA. There are some great Short Term Medical plans out there that can go as long as 3 years at a fraction of the cost of ACA plans. Not in WA though, Kreidler is forcing everyone into ACA plans to make himself look good when enrollment numbers come out.


WA is coming out with a state run health plan called Cascade in 2021. They're trying to reduce premium cost and it is going to fail miserably. The premiums are estimated to be 5-10% less. How? By capping doctor pay at 160% of Medicare rates. Guess what? You'll have a shitty network because the good doctors won't accept it. It just goes to prove that the GOV can't make a plan better than the private market can. Companies like Ambetter already do it, and they have a shitty network and poor reviews as a result.

Here's the final stupidity of the ACA. There are only 200,000 people enrolled through the WAHPF. Why is it that all 26 million resident have get to have an opinion or say in how those 200,000 get their care??? It drives me up a wall when people who have no idea what they're talking about open their mouth about how great the ACA is when they have coverage from some big company.

BTW, 1.8 million WA residents are already on Apple Health (Medicaid) because we have some of the loosest guidelines in the country. Your tax dollars at work. The worst part is Apple folks can folks anytime of the year but if you show up with hard earned cash they'll show the door itself if you don't have an SEP. How is that fair? The non paying folks have more rights and better plans than the people paying!


TLDR: the ACA was a failure in WA and it is easy to fix. WA was better off before 2010 and Kreidler, Inslee & Fergy basically screwed WA residents over for political gain. Vote them out and we will see some change. A new Insurance commissioner could immediately allow new plans in WA that would have better rates and year round enrollment.

Shameless plug/PSA: there is currently a special enrollment for anyone in WA to join a health plan if they are currently uninsured. If you want to explore your options PM me but you only have about a week. April 8th is the deadline.

Medicare just opened up a disaster SEP too - if you have Medicare and aren't happy, we can fix it!

Finally, if you're on an individual plan and your income has changed let your broker know! If you don't have one let me know and I can see if you qualify for lower rates or a different plan. You may be surprised what you qualify for, even if just temporarily.

Ok, off my soap box.

I just read that the stimulus package will extend unemployment benefits to self-employed and independent contractors. Interesting!

Of course WA has not modified their applications yet to accommodate this change but IMO if you are self-employed and out of work due to the stay at home order you should file an application at https://esd.wa.gov/unemployment and start filing weekly claims for the time that you are out of work. It may take some time for ESD to figure out how to make payments to self-employed since we don't report our hours to the state, but you SHOULD be eligible for back pay once they figure it out. Initially you will most likely receive an email stating that you are "not eligible for unemployment payments at this time due to 0 reported hours worked" but that should change once they start reviewing applications for self employed.

I assume that if you don't file the weekly claims, they won't make back pay payments once they get this sorted. So, if you're self employed and out of work due to the Covid-19 shutdowns, submit an application and start filing the weekly claims ASAP!

Here is that stimulus package.

https://www.axios.com/2-trillion-coronavirus-stimulus-bill-4e334c5a-ac0a-4d50-848a-3eb027530421.html

tl;dr version.

Only $10,000,000 is set to fight infectious disease – p.191
$100,000,000 to NASA – p.17
$20,000,000,000 to the USPS – p.53
$300,000,000 to the Endowment for the Arts – p.78
$300,000,000 for the Endowment for the Humanities – p.77
$15,000,000 for Minority Business Development – p.13
$435,000,000 for mental health support – p.92
$30,000,000,000 for Department of Education stabilization – p.110
$100,000,000 family violence prevention – p.100
$200,000,000 to Safe Schools Emergency Response to Violence Program – p.100
$300,000,000 to Public Broadcasting – p.125
$500,000,000 to Institute of Museums and Libraries – p.126
$720,000,000 to Social Security Admin – p.43
$25,000,000 for Cleaning supplies for the Capitol Building p.136
$7,500,000 to the Smithsonian for additional salaries – p.75
$35,000,000 to the JFK Center for performing Arts – p.76
$25,000,000 for additional salary for House of Representatives – p.4
$3,000,000,000 upgrade to the IT department at the VA – 142
$315,000,000 for State Department Diplomatic Programs – p.146
$95,000,000 for the Agency of International Development – p.146
$300,000,000 for International Disaster Assistance – p.147
$300,000,000 for Migrant and Refugee Assistance – p.147
$90,000,000 for the Peace Corp – p.148
$13,000,000 to Howard University – p.121
$9,000,000 Misc Senate Expenses – p.134
$100,000,000 to Essential Air carriers – p.162
$40,000,000,000 to Take Responsibility to Workers & Families Act – p.164
$1,000,000,000 Airlines Recycle and Save Program – p.163
$25,000,000 to the FAA for administrative costs – p.165
$492,000,000 to National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) – p.167
$526,000,000 Grants to Amtrak to remain available if needed through 2021 – p.168
$25,000,000,000 for Transit Infrastructure – p.169
$3,000,000 Maritime Administration – p.172
$5,000,000 Salaries and Expensive Office of the Inspector General – p.172
No voter ID to get a ballot, & anonymous “ballot harvesting” – p.650
$2,500,000 Public and Indian Housing – p.175
$5,000,000 Community Planning and Development – p.175
$2,500,000 Office of Public and Indian Housing – p.175
$1,500,000,000 Tenant-Based Rental Assistance Office of Public and Indian Housing – p.10
$1,000,000,000 of which can be used as "additional administrative and other expenses" – p.176
$720,000,000 to the public housing fund – p.177
$100,000,000 for Community Block Grants for Native Americans – p.183
$250,000,000 for Housing Block Grants for Tribes – p.182
$130,000,000 for AIDS Housing – p.185
$20,000,000 of which goes to one-time grantees – p.186
$15,000,000,000 for the Community Development Fund – p.188
$5,000,000,000 in Homeless Assistance – p.193
$100,000,000,000 for Rental Assistance – p.198
$7,000,000 to enforce the Fair Housing Act – p.203
Paid Family Leave for Sickness is 2 paid work weeks – p.213
$10,000,000 for Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker programs – p.80
$100,000,000 for ‘‘Job Corps’’ – p.81
$15,000,000 for ‘‘Program Administration’’ – p.82
$6,500,000, to the ‘‘Wage and Hour Division’’ – p.83
$30,000,000, to OSHA – p.222-224
$10,000,000 for Susan Harwood training grants p.83
$1,300,000,000, for ‘‘Primary Health Care’’ – p.85
$75,000,000, for ‘‘Student Aid Administration’’ – p.118

kgb,

Can you offer anything for a Medicare supplement plan for seniors with living wage pension income who currently have insurance but are looking for options?

Grays Harbor County. Thanks!

$25 million salary increase for House of Rep. $25 million for cleaning supplies for Capitol Bldg. If you got rid of all the slimy Democrat Reps, the Capitol wouldn't be so damn dirty. If they weren't so damn sleazy ,they wouldn't be asking for a $25 million dollar raise for doing nothing put persecute Trump. $50 million pissed away on nothing of worth, and that's just the first glance. Look at all the "diversity" and "underserved" allocations. WTF does that have to do with economic recovery or Covid 19? Just continued entitlement and. gov dependency for the Democratic voter pool.

And Pelosi is drooling with glee, already talking about more to come.

Meanwhile, the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands(?) millions(?) of Americans have been outlawed - you face fine or prosecution for doing business BUT

the State is still going to collect taxes (a month or two late, but still collect, and mortgage banks are going to reap huge amounts of fines, interest and even real estate because they are not also required to stand down.

Huge power and money grab.

Grays harbor has fewer options than more populated counties, but it is always worth a look to see if we can save some premium. Med Supps are the same statewide and WA allows you to switch anytime in a guaranteed issue basis.

PM me with details and I can look into it!

You actually read it? Now that is stamina!!!

Question, is the means test still in there from the dems version? (You have to have filed taxes.)

I did not read the whole thing. Everyone is welcome to read it though. I suggest taking breaks between reading it at your favorite honey hole and get some trigger time in. The language is difficult to read and it all says we are fucked.

And Democrats want to do a fourth bill to spend another $2 trillion for "infrastructure"

De Bene sent an email crowing about her role in passing a "relief" bill. Wrote back and told her not to piss on my head and try to tell me it's only raining and that we all saw how much "relief" congress members got with their salary increase.

Build the wall

Guys!

I got my stimulus deposit already. Anyone else?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

^Ha! Looks like you're getting all kinds of stimuli.