Participation in Obamacare

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ssancho

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What should Catholics do about participating in Obamacare’s individual insurance mandate? Should we buy insurance, pay a $700 fine to the IRS, or refuse to pay either way (and risk jail time)?

What’s the right thing to do?
 
But doesn’t buying insurance require you to pay for abortion coverage? Is it still acceptable to buy insurance under those circumstances, and if so, why?
 
As far as I can tell, the mandate applies to employers, not individuals.
 
ssancho said:
But doesn’t buying insurance require you to pay for abortion coverage? Is it still acceptable to buy insurance under those circumstances, and if so, why?
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You still need health insurance should you get sick, need medication etc. Unless you are independantly wealthy and have millions to throw around for your health care you need to get insurance. The church does not ask us not to do so, it does not wish that we should sacrifice our well being over this morally reprehensible policy.
 
Joe_5859 said:
As far as I can tell, the mandate applies to employers, not individuals.
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There are 2 mandates: the HHS mandate, which the Church vehemently objects to and is currently fighting in court, and the Individual mandate, which the Supreme Court upheld last summer as a tax.

The latter was not strongly objected to by the Church since the subject of individual coverage per se is mainly prudential.

It may be possible for an individual to purchase insurance without abortion coverage through the exchanges (read the policy carefully before applying - the law indicates that abortion coverage is a separate $1 charge but it is not a la carte - if the plan covers it, the insured must pay that dollar).

There is an alternative that allows individuals to avoid the non-insurance tax. Here, I quote myself from an earlier thread:
Samaritan Ministries is a non-Catholic health sharing organization. They distribute the costs of medical care among their members and negotiate fees.

Solidarity Health Share is a Catholic organization that will do the same when they get it going (so far, they have a signup form to request info when they become available). This organization was established specifically in response to the HHS mandate.

Strictly speaking, neither is an insurance company. However, the law allows participation in such programs in lieu of purchasing insurance.

Solidarity’s main page isn’t loading for me at the moment, but their blog still seems to be operational
 
ssancho said:
But doesn’t buying insurance require you to pay for abortion coverage?
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It requires you to have insurance.

That insurance can be something like a high deductible policy coupled with a Health Saving Account (HSA). Most high deductible plans are major medical-- for example, hospitalization, emergency, etc.

A group or individual policy may have benefits for abortion or contraception, you certainly are not required to use those services.
ssancho said:
Is it still acceptable to buy insurance under those circumstances, and if so, why?
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Yes.

Do you not have insurance now?

For most people there is no change at this point, your employer insurance is still the standard. Nothing has changed in our policy, except the price-- which has gone UP this year tremendously.
 
Joe_5859 said:
As far as I can tell, the mandate applies to employers, not individuals.
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As an individual with no employer-provided insurance, I will be subject to a fine/being able to purchase insurance. If your employer provides insurance, fine, but not all employers are required to. Any employer with less than 50 employees is exempt, for example. A lot of people will not have employer-provided insurance.
 
ssancho said:
But doesn’t buying insurance require you to pay for abortion coverage? Is it still acceptable to buy insurance under those circumstances, and if so, why?
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No, You are not required to buy abortion or contraceptive coverage for an individual policy. If you don’t buy health insurance the tax is very low starting in 2014 and increases over the years. However, if your income is below a certain level then you are not subject to the tax.

ObamaCare for individuals doesn’t take effect until 2014, so nothing is going to effect you for now.
 
What is the moral culpability to the employee who uses their employer’s insurance. My spouse’s employer provides insurance and the rates went up dramatically and it now covers contraception and domestic partners. Are we comitting a sin if we use that for our insurance? Should we try to find insurance elsewhere?
 
salvete said:
What is the moral culpability to the employee who uses their employer’s insurance. My spouse’s employer provides insurance and the rates went up dramatically and it now covers contraception and domestic partners. Are we comitting a sin if we use that for our insurance? Should we try to find insurance elsewhere?
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No, you are not committing a sin and no you do not hav to find insurance elsewhere, but certainly if you can find it more cheaply then do so.
 
The right thing to do is enjoy your new benefits. Our insurance plan has never covered any kind of immunizations because they are considered “preventive care.” It didn’t cover much of anything else that could be considered “preventive care,” either.

I would like to quote from a publication that we received from our insurance plan yesterday. Unknown to us, all of this has been effective since June 30, 2012:

“The eligibility waiting period for routine physicals has been eliminated. The Plan will allow one routine physical each calendar year. In addition, annual cancer screenings, well baby care, immunizations and VACCINATIONS (emphasis mine) are now covered at 100% when provided by a PPO provider.”

I just paid almost $200 for my shingles shot without knowing a thing about this. It also says that aspirin (325 mg and 81 mg) will be covered when prescribed for cardiovascular disease for men and women.

This is Obamacare in action!
 
ssancho said:
But doesn’t buying insurance require you to pay for abortion coverage? Is it still acceptable to buy insurance under those circumstances, and if so, why?
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You do realize that a portion of your tax dollars go to Medicaid? You do know that Medicaid pays for contraception, sterilization, and abortion?
 
salvete said:
What is the moral culpability to the employee who uses their employer’s insurance. My spouse’s employer provides insurance and the rates went up dramatically and it now covers contraception and domestic partners. Are we comitting a sin if we use that for our insurance? Should we try to find insurance elsewhere?
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You do realize that a portion of your tax dollars go to Medicaid? You do know that Medicaid pays for contraception, sterilization, and abortion?
 
1ke said:
It requires you to have insurance.

That insurance can be something like a high deductible policy coupled with a Health Saving Account (HSA). Most high deductible plans are major medical-- for example, hospitalization, emergency, etc.

A group or individual policy may have benefits for abortion or contraception, you certainly are not required to use those services.
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Precisely. It isn’t like it is in China with forced abortions and contraceptions.
 
I feel sorry for the world where people helping each other is wrong to Catholics…every thread on the forum gets even more depressing…its not Obama care just as japanese arn’t called you know…its called Universal care, something much of the world saw was for the betterment of humanity. if it was about yourself and nobody else, Jesus wouldn’t have died for ALL of us. he gave universal coverage to all so we could get into heaven, yet you can’t allow a poor person to live…shakes head, i have nothing but sadness for what a Catholic means anymore.
 
1ke said:
Wait until your next open enrollment, when your premium will reflect all this new “free” stuff.

No such thing as a free lunch.
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I don’t expect it to be free. I expect it to be reasonable. I don’t think people with pre existing conditions should have to pay over $1,000 per month for a state high risk pool insurance policy that covers ONLY catastrophic care–no dr visits, no prescriptions, no labs, etc.

Why do people think that being compelled to buy health insurance is so terribly wrong, but it’s fine to be compelled to carry auto insurance?
 
Mar044 said:
I feel sorry for the world where people helping each other is wrong to Catholics…every thread on the forum gets even more depressing…its not Obama care just as japanese arn’t called you know…its called Universal care, something much of the world saw was for the betterment of humanity. if it was about yourself and nobody else, Jesus wouldn’t have died for ALL of us. he gave universal coverage to all so we could get into heaven, yet you can’t allow a poor person to live…shakes head, i have nothing but sadness for what a Catholic means anymore.
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Amen
 
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