How Will Health Care Reform Affect Me [Infographic]?

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Health care reform is starting to be the topic of conversation these days.  If you need more information and want to know how health care reform impacts you and your taxes, our easy to understand decision tree infographic will let you know what you should do next.

Have more questions healthcare reform? Get answers specific to your situation in the TurboTax AnswersXchange.

Infographic by Column Five Media

[tt_share_code url=”http://images.blog.turbotax.intuit.com/swf/Healthcare-Decision-Tree.png” width=”580″ height=”899″ title=”Healthcare-Decision-Tree” alt=”Healthcare-Decision-Tree”]

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49 responses to “How Will Health Care Reform Affect Me [Infographic]?”

  1. I see this as one of the many ways our government plans to control the US. People that do not work for what they have will not fight for what will be taken from them. It is us RESPONSIBLE WORKERS that are paying for all the free loaders in a contry that has set it up to be this way. HOw convieneint that the congress and chosen religious groups are exempt from having to pay. In the last three years the government has taken an additional $300 out of my paycheck to pay for those that are not working.

  2. I signed up today online for healthcare at the Massachusetts Healthcare connector. It’s about time we all have access to affordable health services. We are still playing catchup with Canada and European countries with single payer and more affordable services. Maybe someday…

    • You mean maybe someday we will all have to wait at least 6 months to get rationed health care? All the freeloaders need to understand that you get what you pay for. Nobody gets free gasoline or iPhones or tattoos, but they expect free health care so they can save their money for cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and double cheeseburgers!

      • Addressing your inaccurate “freeloaders” comment: Who are the uninsured?

        The majority of the uninsured are in low-income working families. Reflecting the more limited availability of public coverage, adults are more likely to be uninsured than children. People of color are at higher risk of being uninsured than non-Hispanic Whites.
        Key Details:

        Over six in ten of the uninsured have at least one full-time worker in their family, and 16% have a part-time worker in the family.

        Individuals below poverty are at the highest risk of being uninsured, and this group accounts for 38% of all the uninsured (the poverty level for a family of four was $23,050 in 2012). In total, nine in ten of the uninsured are in low- or moderate-income families, meaning they are below 400% of poverty.

        The uninsured span the age spectrum. However, children are the least likely to be uninsured because they are more likely to qualify for public coverage through Medicaid or CHIP. The uninsured rate among young adults was 27.4% in 2012, a decrease in recent years due in part to the ACA provision allowing them to remain on a parent’s private health plan until age 26. However, young adults continue to have a high uninsured rate compared to other age groups.

        Uninsured rates vary widely by state and by region, with individuals living in the South and West the most likely to be uninsured.

        About eight in ten of the uninsured are U.S. citizens and 19.7% are non-citizens. Uninsured non-citizens include both lawfully present and undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants and legal immigrants residing in the U.S. for less than five years are ineligible for federally funded health coverage.

        In sum, the vast majority of the “freeloaders” are not “freeloaders,” just families living in poverty. Way to have a social conscience!

  3. *Mandatory* insurance coverage should be a bright red flag to everyone in the US. It’s not even about whether it is ‘doable’, it’s about whether it should be.. It is shameful so many have become so complacent toward our government. Do they really think some of us can be swayed by oversimplified illustrations such as the one above? This wreaks of government monopoly and it’s view of their ‘simpleton’ citizens.

    • This is not mandatory and private insurance companies are still used. Difference is for those who are unable to buy insurance due to income or employer does not offer it, now can have health insurance. Based on income with top being 8% of income. Subsidies which will help with co pays and deductibles. Also a long list of exemptions from penalties.
      I was an ER nurse for years and what eats up more tax dollars then health insurance is uninsured who have to use ERs for clinics. ERs who take uninsured send bills for all those visit and treatments to govt for payment.
      IMO, people who are against any type of national health care are those wasting our tax dollars and putting at risk all the patients in ER that do need immediate treatment.

  4. @Adam. Free? Health care in the UK is not free. It paid for my my high taxes and those of every other working, tax paying British person. So Adam, if you’re free loading off the National Health, do us all a favour and move to the USA.

  5. Your chart is not complete or realistic. What about people who are on Medicare but elect Medicare Advantage or Medicare Replacement Insurance. I am 82 years old and on Humana Insurance which replaces Medicare. I can expect my premium to increase significantly since Obama stole $500B from the program. You don’t have a clue as to what real people who have worked all of their lives will do. Also, my social security will decrease because of the increased payment for Medicare A.

  6. Biased much? Everything will be great! Except those (like me) that choose not to buy insurance. Furthermore, the only way the Supreme Court found this Constitutional, was by calling it a tax, not a penalty. This graph is a joke.
    Taking money from people for NOT doing something and then calling that a tax is a joke as well.

  7. Funny how people complain about “socialized” healthcare – but they DON’T complain about the ALREADY socialized police, socialized fireman, socialized roads and highways, socialized schools, socialized military, socialized beaches, lakes, and rivers, etc.

    The health system is hugely out of control. For those who don’t remember: In 1987 my college health insurance which was 50% paid for by the government was $232/YEAR.
    By 1989, it was $1000/YEAR. By 1992 it was $2500/YEAR.

  8. According to federal agency estimates, Obamacare (or the politically correct term Affordable Care Act) will add paperwork burdens totaling nearly 190 million hours or more every year. To put that in perspective, Mount Rushmore, which took 14 years to build, could be constructed 1,547 times with the paperwork Obamacare requires in one year.

    I vote we repeal obamacare and finish rushmore, at least we will have something for our money.

  9. Guess what, the government decided that companies that were required to offer healthcare plans (50 plus employees) no longer have to do so. So tons of you will probably loose your care through your employer. This will force you to get obamacare. Oh, and if you are too poor to afford obamacare, the gov does not pay for it, the taxpayers do. The government does not pay for anything, it just spends other peoples money.

  10. You fools. The only people in the US that lose their house when they get cancer or whatever are those with no insurance. That is the problem the ACA is trying to fix. And those of you complaining that you cannot afford insurance, what have been doing up ’til now when you get really sick? Going to the ER where the rest of us have been paying for it, which is how we’ll pay for the new system, with the same money that has been paying for free-loaders. Perfect? Of course not, but MUCH BETTER. BTW, those of you wanting to leave the US to get away from this, just where do you think you will go that doesn’t have socialized healthcare?

    • What about those of us with no health insurance who have been going to the doctor and paying the doc out of pocket? (Something the doctor appreciates, as he doesn’t have to deal with insurance company nonsense.) Where does that fit in your remarkably narrow view?

    • Well here is the deal, i don’t WANT health insurance, if i get sick i doctor myself up. Why would i go to a doctor who gets business only when i’m sick? They’re only going to want me to come back again so they’ll temporarily fix the problem not permanently.

      • Caleb you are so right, I too choose to heal myself by eating right, not taking drugs including pharmicutical drugs or smoking and drinking. Plus exercise. It has been proven that many doctors perforn un necessary surgery and many of them the first thing they do is prescribe a “mask the symtoms” drug to have you hooked and paying for drugs the rest of your life. The doctor/insurance system has been a scam for many years.

  11. There is a missing component from this chart. I get health insurance from my employer, but not for FREE. I really can’t afford what I have to pay, but I can’t afford to not have it either. So, as a result, I have to pay more than someone who doesn’t get health insurance from their employer? How is that helpful?

  12. Wow, the only people who are screwed are the ones who couldn’t get insurance in the first place. I don’t make enough to pay for it on my own, I don’t meet government requirements to get it subsidized, my employers are greedy pricks who will fight off giving benefits even if it means losing an appendage, and i’m way too old to get it from my parents. Now they’re gonna fine me because I choose to suffer throught the flu and don’t have the money? I’m getting out of America ASAP, if you were smart, you would follow…

    • Seriously? If you can’t afford it,you get a subsidy.Also ,suffer through the flu?Well I have a disease and I may live if I can get insurance.Do you really think this is about the flu?Do you not have the facts or do you just chose to ignore them?

  13. I really don’t see the problem: If you already have insurance, no change. If you’re a kid who wasn’t covered by your parents plan after you hit 18, you’re now covered until 26. If you have no insurance, then you’ve been either without medical care, or you’ve been getting it through the E.R. on the taxpayers’ dime. Now you can get insurance, allowing you to actually go to a clinic for care, and receive the discounts negotiated by your carrier (quite substantial discounts in some cases). The uninsured don’t get these discounts. If you are too poor to afford the insurance, then the government will pay for it. If you are too poor to pay taxes, you won’t get fined if you don’t buy insurance cause you don’t file a tax return. Seems like a win-win, unless you’re so ignorant as to listen to the shills for the conservatives who want you to die in the street–the same guys who just cut food stamps so that you can starve before you die without medical care…Stop being a tool. Go find out for yourself instead of listening to the idiots.

    • I guess you still don’t see the problem. First why is no one asking how the insurance companies are able to increase their premiums by 100, 200, 300, and in come cases 500%? This is the deal that was cut in the 11th hour of negotiations. What happened to affordable. How about all the companies cutting hours and benefits. Why is it that those receiving insurance somehow deserve more than those losing it or having to pay increased premiums. Seems that the from each according to their ability and to each according to his need is really kicking in. I guess the low information voters are winning a Pyrrhic victory on this. Just wait till you go before the “cost containment committee!”

  14. They missed one: “Do you pay taxes?” -> YES Bad news! The money for all of this extra coverage has to come from somewhere!

    • Once you turn 18, you’re an adult. Time to get off mommy and daddys teat. If they do, great, but the gov’t should NOT force people to keep their kids on their health care until 26.

      Conservatives, such as I, do not want you to die in the street, nor do I want you to starve to death without food stamps. I DO want you to get a job, provide for yourself and not “Covet your neighbour” Just because your neighbour lives in a mansion, and you live in a single wide trailer, doesn’t entitle you to take money from me to get that mansion.

      Last time I looked, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution does not give you the right to healthcare or my money.

      Time for you leeches to start earning your own way and not suckle from the tax coffers!

      • Very well said. I work for my money and don’t appreciate my taxes paying for all the freeloaders. And yes, all of you who claim that you don’t need insurance because you ” doctor yourselves,” are perfect examples of who leeches of the system. I am an ER nurse and see it firsthand. The first time your accidentally cut your hand off with a skill saw, you WILL show up at the ER, you WILL NOT be able to afford the card, and the taxpayers will be stuck with the bill. Wake up America. And I am not a democrat or an Obama supporter.

    • The money to pay for “this extra coverage” comes from reduced payments to doctors and hospitals (and does not affect the quality of care to patients). It DOES NOT come directly from the government.

    • what you said is correct. It is us working men and woman that will be paying for the free loaders. And I do exempt the few that truly have a reason for not working.

  15. That is so stupid. So those who are working class poor are the ones that need it the most. Thanks Obama!!!! Or those who are single with cheap employers that can’t afford it. Real nice.

    • That is exactly what it was constructed. To steal even more money from the poor making them totally dependent on the system.

      How are people going to rise up and bite then hand that feeds them?

      Never mind criminal activity, never mind mass murders of innocent people, never mind theft of public funds.. We keep you alive, now stfu..

      Its a sad world we live in.

      • There are many things about the United States that inhibit social mobility. The affordable care act is not one of them. People like you(I’m assuming you’re libertarian on account of the stupid mask as your avatar) totally understand the problem but not the solution.

    • I happen to be one of those working class poor. I am a single mother of two, making approximately $16,000 per year. I do not receive any government assistance, not because I don’t qualify, but because I choose not to. I pay out of pocket for our health care when we need it. The ACA may look good now but will not benefit anyone in the long run. It is not the responsibility of the tax payer to provide for the children that I CHOSE to have.

  16. Yeah, the U.K. is renowned the world over for their great medical care, and excellent doctors.
    If you go to a doctor in the U.K. your pretty much finished, in the U.S. it’s expensive , but at least you will be alive to pay for it

    • Another ridiculous statement from Europe is….stop getting your news from Rush.You are voting against your own best interests

  17. Ha ha ha I am so glad I am not American and have to sell my house if I get ill. Get cancer lose a lung and they take your house lol. Nice! If you get ill Americans instead of spending all you life savings and have to sell your house get on a plane and come to the UK. Freeeeee. I can’t imagine a western democracy that leaves their people to die on the streets. Now you cant afford health insurance ? Have a fine as well ! lololololololol

    • Thanks for this. I don’t think that the majority of Americans who are against the affordable health care act have traveled much internationally and probably could not find Europe on a map or even the USA for that matter. That is why your answer would not work. They just don’t know any better!

    • Yes, they just put you one the Liverpool Pathway! 60K people last year put to death in Great Britain using this protocol. Based on their population that would be nearing half a million here in the U.S. The U.K. and Canada has no shortage of subjects and low information voters who are willing to trade nearly 90% of their income for inefficient government programs.

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