Friday, July 20, 2018

A Millionaire Can Get Medicaid

So here’s an interesting development: I just found out I qualify for Medicaid, at least for the moment.

Now before you jump all over me saying I’m a greedy conniving cheat who shouldn’t be leeching services from the government, I will just say that it is very likely that I will never actually cost the government any money for using Medicaid. I’ll explain below. But I do think this is a great example of some of the perversity built into our current healthcare system.

I currently pay over $750 a month for COBRA coverage from my former job but in a few months, it will run out and I’ll have to buy my own insurance. I’ve been researching the plans offered through NY State’s marketplace under the ACA, otherwise known as Obamacare. I was going back and forth about what kind of plan to get and which insurance company to choose, but then realized that I shouldn’t be agonizing over it for just the last month of 2018— I could just pick the cheapest Bronze plan for that month since it was unlikely that I’d use medical care that month other than in an emergency, and then I could wait until the 2019 open enrollment period to decide on a plan for next year.

 I decided to see what the application process was like— I didn’t think I’d finalize and submit it right away, but I wanted to see what info was needed. The process is actually pretty straightforward, though if you aren’t sure what all the lines on your tax return mean, you might want to get some help. You basically have to give identifying information to be sure you qualify, and then income and deduction estimates for the year of coverage to see if you are eligible for any subsidies.

 The system is linked into NY State government data, so it knew I wasn’t earning any wages (via a paycheck with withholding) this year. For my estimated income for 2018, I just used the business income, interest, dividend and capital gains numbers from my 2017 tax return. (The business income is a little trickle from blogging, plus a consulting project I did last year, which is unlikely to be repeated this year.) They then ask about certain deductions that affect your adjusted gross income— again, I pulled this information from my 2017 tax return and extrapolated for what they would be in 2018. One of those deductions is what you pay for health insurance premiums if you are self- (or un-) employed.

 So here’s the thing— my taxable income this year is only likely to be around $20,000. When you subtract from that what I’ll pay in 2018 for my health insurance, which is over $8,000, boom, suddenly I’m at poverty level. Assets are not taken into consideration at all. It is also worth pointing out that the dividends and capital gains produced by my 401k and Roth IRA accounts are not taxable, so while I factor those in as “income” in my planning for the future, they don’t affect my eligibility for Medicaid. While I hadn’t originally planned to finalize my application, I sort of inadvertently did: a screen popped up saying I qualified for Medicaid, and that it would be effective as of July 1! I was very confused by this so I called the helpline and talked the whole thing through with someone to see what it would mean.

 Since I will still be paying for my COBRA coverage through November, any medical costs I have will still be covered by that primary insurance, but apparently Medicaid will become secondary coverage, if the provider I use accepts Medicaid. (That's a big if-- one of my doctors stopped being in-network for any insurance companies, so I’m sure she won’t accept Medicaid.) I’ll probably get a physical and maybe see another doctor or two before my COBRA runs out, but I’m guessing it may not be anything that Medicaid would cover.  There is also a slight possibility that I’ll get some work later this year— in that case I’ll have to go back into the application and update my projected income, and presumably that would put me back in the position of buying a bronze plan, with maybe a small subsidy towards the premium for 2018. And in 2019, without all those COBRA payments, I’ll probably no longer be eligible for Medicaid and will just get a subsidy for purchasing a plan. And depending on my actual income, I may end up paying all or some of the subsidy back when I do my 2019 taxes.

 I really wonder how many people fall into a situation like mine. I didn’t do anything to “game the system.” I just happen to benefit from a quirk in how the laws are currently designed (and yes, they should fix that quirk). If I had more investible assets, my dividends and capital gains would probably be high enough to disqualify me. And if I wasn’t paying for my platinum level COBRA, my adjusted gross income would be too high for me to qualify-- that, to me, is the most bizarre detail. But for the next couple of months at least, I am a millionaire who qualifies for Medicaid.

2 comments:

Jess said...

I think a quirk of New York's medicaid rules is that once you qualify, you are qualified for a full year so you might have coverage until July 2019. And therefore be ineligible for exchange subsidies until it lapses.

eto124 said...

Wow, this is incredible. Please keep us updated on this.