Rose says, “what the penalty will cost them from the individual mandate that all U.S. citizens have insur- ance or pay the penalty.”
What to expect now? Efforts to repeal Obamacare won’t be overnight be-
cause of the reams of rules and regulations, including the fact that many of the insured receive government subsidies. Subsidies are based on the amount of income a
Jack Howell, Sprouse, Shrader, Smith PLLC Law Firm
for a $6,500 deductible with no co-pays is about $864 per month.
• For a 37-year-old female and spouse with two chil- dren, the group plan with $6,550 deductible and no co-pays has a premium of $970 per month in the PPO. For 2016, that rate was $788, about 20 percent lower. On the individual side in the HMO, the pre- mium for a $6,500 deductible, no co-pay policy is about $1,096. That’s about 60 percent higher than for 2016. “That’s a lot of money, a mortgage for some people,”
Rose says. She says that if it’s just the husband and the wife,
and 1 other employee, the employee doesn’t have to take the plan. “If they want to contribute something for their employees, they can write that off as a tax deduction,” Rose notes. “For some people it is just cost prohibitive,” she adds.
“For one client, his premium for himself and his wife jumped to $21,000 for the year with a $6,000 deduct- ible. He says, ‘ tell me why I shouldn’t just put these dollars into savings and pay the penalty?’ “If you have a crystal ball and know there wouldn’t
be a $100,000 medical bill, that’s fi ne.” Writers of ACA, better known as Obamacare, count-
ed on young people to buy health insurance to help hold costs down for older people. It hasn’t happened in many cases. Many people choose to pay the gov- ernment penalty, which for 2016 was 2.5 percent of household income. “That’s our new conversation with individuals,”
household makes compared to the Federal Poverty Level (FLP), Rose says. A family can make up to 400 percent of FPL and potentially qualify for a subsidy. For a single family member, 400 percent of FPL is $47,520; for 2 in the household, it’s $64,080; 3 in the household, $80,640; 4 in the household, $97,200; 5 in the household, $113,760; and 6 in the household, $130,320. “If you make between 143 percent and 400 percent
of FPL, you quality for subsidy,” Rose says. “The higher you get, the less subsidy you receive.” She says that after the election of President Trump,
insurance company user groups are still pondering what will happen with health insurance. “Many of us feel that (House Speaker) Paul Ryan will have carte blanche,” Rose says. “He has virtually designed a plan that’s on his website. “We know there a lot of things in place that will
have to be changed. It will just take a while.” Howell says that along with health insurance laws,
the new administration will probably see numerous changes in tax laws, regulatory burdens and other is- sues, which will impact how LPs and other forms of business entities function. “It is complicated now and may become more com-
plicated,” he concludes. “The more you do, the more complex it gets. I have done some agreements in which the land itself is a partnership and the operation of the farm or ranch is in a separate company. It might be an S corp or an LLC. “Every farm or ranch is a different situation. What
works for one may not be suitable for another. I en- courage farm and ranch families to consult with their attorneys, accountants, insurance agents, lenders and others who can provide the expertise they need.” ❚
Editor’s note: Find answers to insurance questions by calling the staff at Cattle Raisers Insurance, the in-house
agency at TSCRA. CRI was formed more than 30 years ago to help TSCRA members fi nd insurance solutions suited to the unique needs of ranchers and their families. Visit
cattleraisersinsurance.com or call 800-252-2849 to talk to a staff member.
tscra.org #CattleRaisers January 2017 The Cattleman 87
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