Want Obamacare? Get Ready to Share the Details of Your Life Changes With the Feds.
Americans receiving tax credits for health care they get through the Affordable Care Act are likely to take a hit on their tax refunds, warns USA Today. That's because they took an advance against those tax credits when they signed up for coverage, but come tax filing time, actual numbers may not square with earlier estimates. If that's the case (and when do financial estimates ever line up with reality at the end of the year?) the tax collectors will demand money back.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Obamacare customers' new and very intimate relationships with the federal government. In order to make sure their credits line up with their personal circumstances, people purchasing health coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace are suppposed to update the government on any major life changes. The new relationship between customers and federal officials, to judge by the IRS's documents, seems a bit like reporting in to a parole officer.
Actually, it's a lot like reporting in to a parole officer.
Obamacare customers should contact the government in case of: birth or adoption, marriage or divorce, moving to another address, changes in household income, incarceration or release from incarceration, gaining or losing health care coverage or eligibility, and other changes in life and prosperity.
You can apparently get a dog without filing a report, but don't quote me on that.
Obamacare—the health care coverage for people who think privacy is way the hell overrated.
