MA preparers - question on Sched HC

[BCinSC]

Client turned 18 in 2011, can be claimed as dependent on parents's return. ATX is giving me an error message about the health care provision on Sch HC. Seems to want an entry on line 3. Form instructions say to only complete line 1. What is the proper presentation on the form for an 18 year old?. Thanks for any advice.

[Wendy]

It depends on when the birthday is. LIne 1 is the only input if the birthday is on or after October 1. Health care requirement begins the first day of the third month following the birthday.

[BCinSC]

Birday is 5/15. Her parents have her covered on their health insurance policy. Am I correct to show her parents' insurace info? Thanks for your help!

[Wendy]

Yes. Her parents would have received a Form HC from their insurance company that would list her and give all the info needed - their ID# and your client's individual subscriber # along with the box checked off for full year coverage (or part year and the months). Assuming full year...LIne 3a check full year. Line 4a check private insurance. LIne 4f the insurance info. That's it. If she was not covered at least form Aug on, then the rest of the 4 page form has to be filled out - and that's an adventure for a first-timer. Good luck.

[Catherine]

<snip> ....then the rest of the 4 page form has to be filled out - and that's an adventure for a first-timer. Good luck.

That Mass. Sch HC penalty calculation is an exercise everyone should go through -- county, household size, income, premium, etc. It's a harbinger of what we'll be dealing with if the Supreme Court does not do their Constitutional duty and toss out the entire Health no-Care bill.

[MAMalody]

Amen to that!

[jainen]

>>what we'll be dealing with if the Supreme Court does not do their Constitutional duty<<

Yep. Much better to have 40 million Americans keep on using emergency rooms for everything. Public health takes a hit, but hey--tax dollars cover it all with hardly any paper trail.

[Catherine]

1. That 40 million number is NOT correct; actual is closer to 11 million.

2. Many of _those_ are young adults who _choose_ not to buy coverage.

3. The law in Massachusetts is an absolute DISASTER -- insurance rates have skyrocketed at more than double the national rate (which isn't exactly low). Doctors have moved practices out-of-state or left the field.

4. The penalties hurt the very people the program was supposed to HELP.

5. IT DOES NOT WORK. SOCIALIZED MEDICINE NEVER DOES. Ask the UK -- ask Canada -- ask most of Europe.

Example: Which group has done more to help in the area of children's cancer -- the NIH/NCI -- or St. Jude's? One is government run and buried in bureaucratic and political nonsense; promising new treatments are turned down for grants all the time for lack of patronage. The other is privately funded, nimble to follow any promising new lead, and turns down no one.

[jainen]

>>closer to 11 million<<

That's 11 million FAMILIES. Most uninsured Americans are children. http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/13/news/economy/census_bureau_health_insurance/index.htm

Europeans are bewildered at our lack of coverage. They see health care as a human right. And our system is already hugely dependent on taxpayer funding, starting with research. (Even St. Jude relies on about as much from government grants as from private insurance http://www.stjude.org/stjude/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=a516e9e5e9a0e210VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD&cpsextcurrchannel=1.) We just don't have much taxpayer oversight. Among the most effective segments of health care in the U.S. are MediCare and VA. In comparison, children are relatively inexpensive but they are locked out by the great fear that they might have safe sex.