Married Couples Pay More Than Unmarried Under Health Bill
Jan 11th, 2010 by Rick Arms
Some married couples would pay thousands of dollars more for the same health insurance coverage as unmarried people living together, under the health insurance overhaul plan pending in Congress. The built-in “marriage penalty” in both House and Senate healthcare bills has received scant attention. But for scores of low-income and middle-income couples, it could mean a hike of $2,000 or more in annual insurance premiums the moment they say “I do.”
The disparity comes about in part because subsidies for purchasing health insurance under the plan from congressional Democrats are pegged to federal poverty guidelines. That has the effect of limiting subsidies for married couples with a combined income, compared to if the individuals are single.
People who get their health insurance through an employer wouldn’t be affected. Only people that buy subsidized insurance through new exchanges set up by the legislation stand to be impacted. About 17 million people would receive such subsidies in 2016 under the House plan, the Congressional Budget Office estimates.
The bills cap the annual amount people making less than 400% of the federal poverty level must pay for health insurance premiums, ranging from 1.5% of income for the poorest to 11% at the top end, under the House plan.
For an unmarried couple with income of $25,000 each, combined premiums would be capped at $3,076 per year, under the House bill. If the couple gets married, with a combined income of $50,000, their annual premium cap jumps to $5,160 — a “penalty” of $2,084. Those figures were included in a memo prepared by House Republican staff.
The disparity is slightly smaller in the Senate version of health-care legislation, chiefly because premium subsidies in the House bill are more targeted towards low-wage earners.
Under the Senate bill, a couple with $50,000 combined income would pay $3,450 in annual premiums if unmarried, and $5,100 if married — a difference of $1,650.
Republicans say the effect on married couples whose combined income makes them ineligible for subsidies is even greater — up to $5,000 or more — but that is more difficult to measure because it includes assumptions about the price of insurance policies.
Democratic staff who helped to write the bill confirmed the existence of the penalty, but said it cannot be remedied without creating other inequities.
For instance, they said making the subsidies neutral towards marriage would lead to a married couple with only one bread-winner getting a more generous subsidy than a single parent at the same income-level.
If the bill passes in its current form, it would be far from the first example of federal and social benefits creating incentives to remain single. Under current law, marriage can have a negative impact on a person’s ability to claim the earned income tax credit and welfare benefits including food stamps.
But it has caught the attention of some conservative groups, who claim that the prospect of reduced subsidies will dissuade people from tying the knot.
This seems to not only penalize the married, but also those who would have the most to gain from marriage — the poor,
Amazing how they will have our tax dollars paying for abortion, and now this, trying to go against people that want to be married.
This is the same administration that vowed not to raise taxes on families earning less than $250,000 - then $200,00 - then $150,000 a year .
Another broken promise. Another burden on taxpayers. Another roadblock for people who want to live traditional lives.
The way I see it, another assault on the last traditional American value and its part of the Health Care Reform, how convenient. Primarily the family, break it up. Make it cheaper to live together than to be married. The family is the last remaining symbol of American life, this they must destroy in order to take control of every aspect of American Society.
I think I stll deserve a B+ for the Job I’m doing as President even though I lied about Healthcare Legislation being Transparent on 8 different occassions as candidate OBAMA with my administration and Televised on C- Span. Hogwash ! Brian Lamb , ceo of C-Span is still waiting for a response from the OBAMA Team, Pelosi and Dingy Harry Reid about this apparent lack of transparency ????
What rubbish…
This is quickly becoming a disaster. Obama promised change and then didn’t have any plans in place? We’ll leave it up to the -excuse me- existing sitting Congress? How is THAT representative of change much less LEADERSHIP?
Can we PLEASE scrap this entire thing and start with solutions advocated by think tanks on both the left and the right:
- establish FEDERAL insurance guidelines so insurance companies can more effectively sell across state lines
- provide better mechanisms for individuals to pool coverage to get better rates
- reform of how we pay for service to dissuade over-prescription of expensive drugs
As it is, we have this… Every major corporation and entity with their heads in the federal trough, but we have MARRIED COUPLES paying a penalty. Way to go, well done! Is this was people REALLY voted for???
Then let them better themselves and get higher paying jobs like the rest of us. After all, your iconic picture displays “Yes We Can” in red, white and blue. So let the low income folks take that to heart and step up to the plate and do their part. Otherwise shut up and move to another country. I’m done with vote-buying entitlement programs and madated wealth redistribution attempts by our elitist do as I say not as I do congress and this corrupt administration.
I guess there have been low-income people dying in the street all the years republicans were in power? Get real! I have low-income relatives and they have NEVER been denied health care and have received health care the same calibre as my health care. A lot of them didn’t pay the full price, but received total care.
Julia Gomez… It is not an issue about Democrats or Republicans it is about US. Could you tell me what will be the effect of the bills on the 15 to 17 million undocumented immigrants?
Still looking for that free lunch Julia?
It’s has been a tradition in America to stop being a low-income person and work hard and smart to become a medium or high income person. With the socialism and fascism we’re seeing now it is becoming harder for some to make that transition.
umm Julia - everyine in america already has accessss to the best health care in the world -
Julia,
if combined we are earning $50,000 which is not a high wage, can they add on an additional $2,000 expense. This will throw more hard working people into the poverty level.
t used to be traditional to sacrifice virgins and put leeches on people to bleed them. Your ravings are vague and ridiculous. Inciting an entire country to kill homosexuals just for existing? Demanding that the poor and middle class of this country be left to die if they can’t pay? Putting this country in debt to it’s eyeballs to China in order to carry out a personal war with a country which produced ZERO terrorists on the planes of 9/11 while flying the entire family of the terror mastermind home to Saudi without so much as a “By your leave”?
Destroying the environment faster than ever in order to facilitate some oil and coal barons getting obscenely rich while leaving a wasteland in their wake? Absolutely gutting finance regulation in order to let shady guys do ethically reprehensible stuff because now it’s ‘what’s legal’ versus ‘what’s right’?
The GOP…paying lip service to traditional family values since 1980.
What does all that have to do with this bill?
All opinions…no facts
Yep that is true, Conservatives only wants to return to virgin//homo sacrifice. Could you substantiate one Western Judeo-Christian society that engaged in either simultaneously?
I can only assume from you post that the amount of brain damage you have suffered without dying is amazing.
Democrats are as much to blame as the Republicans, look at the real issues at hand, not the parties. There will always be terrorist, whether it is a republican in office or Democrat in office. Where in the article mention anything about killing homosexuals? talking about Saudis….aren’t they the biggest donor to Former President Clinton’s Charity or Library? Geez, I guess the Democrats have as much to do with the Saudis as the Republicans right?
Destroying the environment faster may have something to do with some oil or coal barons, but I think it have as much to do with the supply and demand. The poor will pay a lot less if there is plenty of supply of energy, such as gas and oil to keep their home warm.
From what you say, you are okay with the fact the the poor should suffer with high price of energy, but they should be allow to have assess to health insurance. BTW, everyone is being cared for, just not everyone have the Cadillac health insurance plan. I didn’t see any corpses on the street that were dead because of no health care.
Both parties…not even paying lip service to equal protection or the Constitution.
Another financial incentive rewarded by the government to encourage people to have illegitimate children. The welfare policies of liberals are not intended to fix poverty, but instead to foster and promote behaviors the will entrap people into government dependency.
Considering that ObamaCare revenue collections will be a duty of the IRS and that the IRS recognizes common law marriages, lets just say that any two adults living together ARE married and give them the smaller subsidy.
It seems apparent that the marriage penalty issue was not disclosed to the public during the legislative process. We should reward couples for marrying and most certainly should never penalize them for it. I strongly disagree with the woman who claims that policies of this sort do not affect the way people behave.
I bet the gays who were denied marriage permits are now laughing all the way to the bank as married people get hammered by the health bill for being married.
This government would be hilarious if it didn’t cost us so much money. Not like I don’t like the three stooges (three branches), but $2.5 trillion dollars a year is way too much for a few good laughs now and then. Who do we see to get our money back?