“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” – Mark Twain
Author: Linda McHenry
Update: Health Insurance and the Individual Mandate
When the Affordable Care Act (i.e., the ACA or ObamaCare) was originally enacted in 2010, a number of lawsuits were filed contesting its constitutionality. Many people were opposed to the federal government stipulating that most Americans had to be covered by a specific form of health insurance or be fined. (The ACA also required large employers to offer a specific form of health insurance to a certain percentage of full-time employees or be fined.)
The Individual Mandate is the ACA provision requiring individuals to be covered by health insurance that meets specific requirements of federal law to avoid paying a penalty. Technically, the monetary penalty was ruled a tax imposed by Congress and, therefore, the Individual Mandate was deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court.
In 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced the Individual Mandate’s tax penalty to $0. This meant that beginning January 1, 2019, Americans were no longer taxed if they were not covered by federally mandated health insurance. As one would expect, that law also spurred litigation.
Last month, a federal Appeals Court ruled that because the Individual Mandate’s tax penalty was reduced to $0, it could no longer be considered a tax based on the criteria established by the Supreme Court in earlier legislation. Since the Individual Mandate no longer contains a tax, it is no longer constitutional.
While this decision might seem to indicate that everyone’s health insurance options will change this year, that is not the case. Why? Because another portion of the lawsuit heard by the Appeals Court was deferred until the lower court can study all the provisions in the ACA to determine which of them Congress intended to be severable from the rest of the ACA. In other words, just because the Individual Mandate is unconstitutional doesn’t mean all provisions of the ACA are, as well.
A complete review of the entire ACA will take months and months of time. Then, when the lower court submits its study to the Appeals Court, the ensuing judicial process can also be expected to take months. For the time being, our health insurance options should remain pretty stable, with the additional options offered by other recent federal legislation: the availability of Short-term Limited Duration Insurance (STLDI) and high-benefit, low-deductible health insurance plans (i.e., Cadillac plans). Note: the 40% tax on Cadillac plans was permanently repealed effective January 1, 2020 under the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 (H.R. 1865).
Stay tuned for more info as it becomes available…
Thought for the Day
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
New Beginnings
Although I tend to get sad in the fall, when the heat of summer fades away and the trees begin shedding their leaves, I seldom react the same way at the end of the year. As each January approaches, I feel like I do when spring is around the corner: excited by the bright colors erupting all over the place and the music and fresh new scents filling the world. (I never remember the allergies until much, much later…)Today is a beginning, a brand new year. But I love all beginnings, not just January first.
I look forward to Mondays (yes, I enjoy my job), Fridays (the beginning of the weekend), an unopened notebook, a freshly sharpened pencil. I even like beginnings that have nothing to do with writing: learning how to play a song on the cello, meeting a person I’ve never met, experimenting with a new recipe, researching graphology, tasting an unheard-of brand of tea.
If we always wear scratchy wool slacks, we’ll never know how comfortable soft corduroy pants feel. If we only listen to elevator music, we never hear the toe-tapping beat of jazz or the heart-rending pull of the blues. If we never reach out to hug someone else, we don’t know how it feels to be held in another person’s arms.
Traveling through life on a highway–one with clearly marked lanes, a wide shoulder, and a 65 mph speed limit–surely does take us places faster than if we meander down dirt roads, taking shortcuts that invariably wind up being longcuts and bouncing our way through a multitude of potholes. But it’s not nearly as scenic because all the sights pass by in a blur. It’s not nearly as musical, either, because we can’t hear anything other than the endless drone of rubber on pavement.
In 2020, I urge you to look forward to the possibilities, savor flavors you’ve never tasted, make up words to the tunes that run through your head. Detour down a back road instead of taking the highway, just once. Risk it, I dare you … see where that left turn takes you.
This January, listen to the softly falling snow and instead of griping because you can’t wear your suede boots or have to sweep off the car, immerse yourself in the wonder of Mother Nature, the tiny damp kisses she leaves on your cheek, and the joy each moment can bring to your life–if you let it.
Happy New Year ! ♥
Happy New Year!
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
