Yamileth Medina

Health Insurance Bill Struggles Good For Married Couples



Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010

by
VitalOne Health

Currently, the fate of healthcare reform remains up in the air. The recent loss in Massaschusetts' special election for the Senate means that Democrats in Congress need to regroup. It is unlikely that the legislation will survive in its current form. Married couples may benefit from lower health insurance rates if the existing bill dies. While the majority of married couples with employer-sponsred health insurance will be unaffected, those needing to buy health insurance through subsidized exchange markets would suffer if it passed.

How is that the case? It is a result of the health insurance subsidies that have been proposed. Both the Senate and House of Representatives' versions of the bill base the amount of subsidies on federal poverty guidelines. Individuals and families earning up to 400% of the poverty level will have part of their medical insurance subsidized. Unfortunately, the law has the effect of penalizing married couples with a combined income.

If two people remain legally single, they would pay up to $2,000 less on annual health insurance premiums, due to increased subsidies. The bills attempt to protect lower- and middle-income individuals by capping the percentage of income that should be spent on health insurance, using subsidies to make up the difference and get them insured. Like progressive tax brackets, individuals at the higher end must pay a larger percentage of their income than those at the poorer end.

The most recent proposals, in effect, encourage couples to remain unmarried. Similar accusations have been made towards welfare and other public assistance programs. Health insurance for self employed professionals would become more affordable with the subsidies. According to the Wall Street Journal, two people earning $25,000 each would pay a total of $3,450 in individual health insurance premiums if unmarried, but $5,100 in premiums as a married couple under the Senate's proposal.

Healthcare reform legislation in the House is even more inequitable: if a couple gets hitched, they can pay $5,160 for medical insurance--$2,084, rather than the $3,076 they would be expected to pay if they did not marry. Walking the tightrope of balancing targeted policy towards the lower-wage individuals most in need of insurance may inadvertently hurt couples. Social conservatives fear that such policy would discourage marriage. Republicans have acknowledged this problem, but have focused on other factors in their opposition to healthcare reform. That strategy appears to have worked so far.

(Image: DeusXFlorida under CC 2.0)

Yamileth Medina is an up and coming expert on Health Insurance and Healthcare Reform. She aims to help people realize that they can find quality medical insurance right now. Yamileth lives in Miami, FL.
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