wantingToGetOut
Dryer sheet aficionado
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2010
- Messages
- 37
In my state of Mass., we have subsidized health care for low income families.
In talking with the people who run it, there appears to be a loop hole that I can use to get pretty much free health insurance for my family and keep all the doctors/hospitals I already use.
The "loophole" is that the eligibility is only based on income. It is NOT based on AGI. It is only based on income you would receive on a W2(before deductions) and from rental property, alimony, child support, pension, Social Security etc.
They do NOT consider interest/dividends/cap gains as income (I asked this question to the customer service representative working at MassHealth as it caught me off guard). They consider interest/dividend/cap gains as part of your assets and that does not factor into eligibility for me.
Since I do not work as an early retiree and have no other income outside of the interest/dividends/cap gains, I am very likely going to qualify for the max benefits (which is almost a free ride).
We are relatively well off but we are that way because we watch our expenses. Health care dominates our expenses. ~$13k of the ~$54k we spend every year is on health care.
Obviously dropping from $54k to $41k is going to make a huge difference in terms of my SWR.
My wife feels like we are going to be sponging off the state when the plan was not meant for people like us. I can't get past the numbers though.
Since others will likely be facing a similar choice come 2014 if/when the national plan kicks in, I was interested to see if other people had some moral issues with this loop hole.
In talking with the people who run it, there appears to be a loop hole that I can use to get pretty much free health insurance for my family and keep all the doctors/hospitals I already use.
The "loophole" is that the eligibility is only based on income. It is NOT based on AGI. It is only based on income you would receive on a W2(before deductions) and from rental property, alimony, child support, pension, Social Security etc.
They do NOT consider interest/dividends/cap gains as income (I asked this question to the customer service representative working at MassHealth as it caught me off guard). They consider interest/dividend/cap gains as part of your assets and that does not factor into eligibility for me.
Since I do not work as an early retiree and have no other income outside of the interest/dividends/cap gains, I am very likely going to qualify for the max benefits (which is almost a free ride).
We are relatively well off but we are that way because we watch our expenses. Health care dominates our expenses. ~$13k of the ~$54k we spend every year is on health care.
Obviously dropping from $54k to $41k is going to make a huge difference in terms of my SWR.
My wife feels like we are going to be sponging off the state when the plan was not meant for people like us. I can't get past the numbers though.
Since others will likely be facing a similar choice come 2014 if/when the national plan kicks in, I was interested to see if other people had some moral issues with this loop hole.
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