Obamacare updates you need to know, 8 foods that will spike, more

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

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A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

My doctor warned me about the health risks of my years of wine, women and song…reluctantly, I gave us singing. >The Poor Man

More Potential Headaches When you Renew Obamacare

Most don’t know their plan needs to be renewed yearly in order to qualify for subsidies…

A few days ago I warned readers about how personal and supposedly private health information is automatically shared with the IRS, DHS and other federal agencies and with Wall Street marketers. Well here is another tidbit you need to be aware of…

Getting those who signed up this year enrolled again for 2015 won’t be as easy as it might seem. And the law’s interaction between insurance and taxes looks like a sure-fire formula for confusion.

For example:

— For the roughly 8 million people who signed up this year, the administration has set up automatic renewal. But consumers who go that route may regret it. They risk sticker shock by missing out on lower-premium options. And they could get stuck with an outdated and possibly incorrect government subsidy. Automatic renewal should be a last resort, consumer advocates say.

—An additional 5 million people or so will be signing up for the first time on HealthCare.gov and state exchange websites. But the Nov. 15-Feb. 15 open enrollment season will be half as long the 2013-2014 sign-up period, and it overlaps with the holiday season.

— Of those enrolled this year, the overwhelming majority received tax credits to help pay their premiums. Because those subsidies are tied to income, those 6.7 million consumers will have to file new forms with their 2014 tax returns to prove they got the right amount. Too much subsidy and their tax refunds will be reduced. Too little, and the government owes them.

—Tens of millions of people who remained uninsured this year face tax penalties for the first time, unless they can secure an exemption.

“It’s the second open enrollment, but the first renewal and the first tax season where the requirements of the Affordable Care Act are in place,” said Judy Solomon, vice president for health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which advocates for low-income people, and supports the law.

They also are concerned about retaining customers. One quirk troubling the industry is that policyholders who want to update their subsidies and stay in the same plan will have to type in a 14-character plan identifier when they re-enroll online. That’s longer than a phone number or a Social Security number, and customers may not know where to find it.

http://news.yahoo.com/hurdles-obama-health-law-2nd-113513979.html

The “Affordable Care Act” continues to prove that it is anything but affordable, as more and more families are struggling with rising premiums, deductibles, and co-pays. Stories of lost coverage and outrageous expenses associated with Obamacare have been flooding the news for a while now, but some are just downright heartbreaking…like that of Pattie Curran.

Read more of this post

How to Peruse Your (Creepy but Fascinating) Online History

If you’re online, your activities are being recorded. Here are a few ways to check in on the creepily detailed online diary you didn’t even know you were keeping. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2467092,00.asp?mailingID=1ADEB3434CD88F4BA9D55D6EBD60256D

Wealth gap putting the squeeze on state revenue

Income inequality is taking a toll on state governments.

The widening gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has been matched by a slowdown in state tax revenue, according to a report being released Monday by Standard & Poor’s.

Even as income for the affluent has accelerated, it’s barely kept pace with inflation for most other people.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-wealth-gap-putting-squeeze-state-revenue-042337218–finance.html

7 Percent of US Workers Have Garnished Wages

The recession and its financial impacts are still being felt – and paid for – by millions of Americans.

According to a new ADP report, 7.2 percent of U.S. workers had wages garnished in 2013 to pay off child support and other debt, including credit cards, medical bills and student loans.

http://www.moneytalksnews.com/2014/09/15/the-wages-of-7-percent-of-us-workers-are-garnished-to-pay-off-debt/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=email-2014-09-16&utm_medium=email

Keep your frugal going with these resources and find more goodies in this issue at:

http://poormansurvivorblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/8-food-price-spikes-magic-words-for.html