No. of Recommendations: 6
So in other words, as a federal employee or perhaps retiree, under the FEP system, you optionally excluded your spouse from your FEP coverage in prior years, and she remained on the ACA plan, so you could garner a financial advantage for yourself and spouse.
No. For 10 years I was in the Philippines and they have dirt cheap insurance for Filipinos, which I put us both on. I went on because For$300 a year they accept that card in hospitals and you don't have to pay cash up front, plus my coverage in FEPblue was initially honored only in one hospital in Cebu (one island over). As I stated before, I kept FEPblue because if I went off of it, I was not allowed back onto it. I didn't know when I was coming back - but I paid US prices for a very healthy 10 years. Some people wouldn't. I did.
I didn't optionally exclude her - she had her own plan I put her on in the PI. ACA isn't available in the PI. There are odd things - such as if you have a VA disability and are in Manila, you're covered by it there, and they will mail you Rxs.
When I got here, she didn't have a green card, and I paid for travel insurance until she got her green card. Following so far?
Then she got he green card and needed insurance, and I asked her to check the Filipina Network, which told her to go to Walmart and talk to the guy there. I went with her. Half of the conversation was in Tagalog, so I didn't follow it. He asked me what my income was, and I guessed the net going into my bank accounts, without realizing why the question was being asked or that we were talking ACA. I've talked about my surprises with ACA before.
I saw open season coming up, so I boned up on Medicare, FEPblue, and all the other plans, all the letters, ruling out what didn't apply and reading what did apply multiple times, highlighting, underlining and I prepared a four page analysis and refined it. I spent a lot of time on it, and was still uncertain, I could have missed something easily.
It seemed that ACA was a good deal, because she was getting charged a small amount a month for it. Cheap. And I needed time because all the plans were soo much. It was all new to me. Then she needed a specialist and the the specialists available on her plan within an hours driving time no longer existed. I talked to the desk ladies in Doctors offices and no one took her plan. Luckily, we were still in open season, so I made the switches I had thought through previously, getting her on my plan(though still somewhat uncertain and thinking I could be making a mistake), cost me more, but her ACA plan was bad. It would've been prohibitive to bring her on my standard plan. And I've talked to people who are very happy with that plan.
Then, *after* all that, ACA levels up at tax time, and I lost a big chunk of my refund to ACA. Then on September I got a refund from the ACA plan and I think that might be because they didn't spend 85% of the premiums on medical costs. It didn't say -just my guess.
I truly resent your tone, implications, and think you have proven yourself to be an utter lowlife asshat by your approach of accusing my wife and I of gaming a system normal people have difficulty understanding.
People go in and talk to someone at a card table in a store to get health insurance - I know they don't understand if they are getting good coverage. My brother swears by a Medicare Advantage Plan, but he lives in a trailer park and gets advice on what plans are real methinks.
good for you and your wife for being able to "game the system";
FUCK YOU SCUMBAG! Did you ever serve? Since any accusation is a confession, I'd have to assume this is projection. Ploink. In you go.
