DonsDeals Blog: A little more info on the Never Ending or Will it Ever, Really get up and Running??? Saga... of the the Affordable Healthcare Act, health reform law, also known as "Obamacare."

Here's a little more info on the Never Ending or Will it Ever, Really get up and Running??? Saga... of the the Affordable Healthcare Act, health reform law, also known as "Obamacare."

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What's The Deadline To Avoid A Penalty For Not Having Insurance?

WebMD News from Kaiser Health News

By Michelle Andrews

Mon, Dec 19 2011

Q. To avoid owing a penalty for not having health insurance next year, what's the deadline for buying a plan?

A. The simple answer is March 31, but unfortunately it's not that straightforward.

Starting in January, most people will need to have health insurance. If they don't, they'll owe a penalty amounting to $95 or 1 percent of the family income, whichever is greater. This fee will be collected when they file their federal income taxes.

Buying Insurance on Exchanges: It Helps to Have Help

New online marketplaces don't do enough to let consumers weigh their options, experts say

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Karen Pallarito

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Oct. 18 (HealthDay News) -- You have to wade through a lot of insurance jargon and be a skilled number-cruncher to choose the right health insurance plan on the new health exchanges, health literacy and consumer decision-making experts say.

Skipping on down...

"Comparing costs of plans is difficult," said Robert Krughoff, founder and president of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Center for the Study of Services, and Consumers' CHECKBOOK, a publisher of health-plan ratings.

First consumers have to figure out whether, say, a $200 deductible with a $10,000 out-of-pocket limit is better than a $1,000 deductible with a $3,000 out-of-pocket limit for them, Krughoff explained. "Then you throw in different co-insurance rates and different co-payments and consumers just can't put all that together into a single number that they can compare," he said.

Even the language of insurance, with concepts like co-insurance and tax credits, is confusing, the experts noted.

"We're asking people to do a lot of heavy lifting right now when it comes to things that (studies show are) very problematic for the general public," said Christina Zarcadoolas, a professor at the City University of New York's School of Public Health at Hunter College.