Affordable Care “Tax”

This book is in your hands today because you are someone who loves reading and/or are one of those people who gets befuddled with the complexity of the new Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its relationship with the Income Tax Laws. For those who love knowledge and search for it, this book will be one of your avenues to learn. A blind Egyptian man named TAHA HUSSEIN (1889-1973) was a world renowned historical figure similar to Helen Keller. He was appointed Egypt’s Minister of Knowledge in 1950. He led a call for everyone’s right to a free education. He said,

"Education is as water and air, the right of every human being."

His revolutionary phrase changed the lives of Egyptians, as he went beyond affordable into free education. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs fits well with Dr. Hussein’s philosophy; Maslow presented human needs as falling into five basic stages: physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. Basic needs that comprise the lowest levels of Maslow’s hierarchy include security of body, employment, resources, morality, family, property, and health. Today in America we need to hear a similar phrase to that uttered by Dr. Hussein: “Healthcare is as water and air, the right of every human being.” While free healthcare may not be possible, affordable healthcare is indeed a life necessity for Americans especially after the excessive rise of medical costs. We need to consider healthcare as one of the survival needs in the first stage of Maslow’s hierarchy. Working with the Affordable Care Act, right at the initial implementation or earlier, I had the opportunity to discuss the provisions of the law with many opponents. With all my respect to each opinion, the funniest opinion claimed that the law is one step towards the sign of the Beast and that we have to be on guard to defend ourselves against it. Some people believed that the government will implant a microchip in people that will contain their personal information. Other than that religious opinion and the conspiracy behind it, the other opinions contained concerns that I might agree with if I were in their situation. But before we go that route, I’m inviting opponents to the ACA to put themselves in a situation where the insurance company re-assesses their premium at an excessive rate or simply denies them because of pre-existing conditions. Imagine how you would feel if you were to run into a catastrophic health issue where you reached the maximum benefit for the year, or for life, and the insurance company stopped your coverage. Do you still disagree with Obama Care? We all understand the fact that ACA is a human-made law, which means it’s not perfect. The law still needs more efforts to be improved according to the opponent’s point of view. If we incorporate these opinions, the law can improve, be strengthened, and reach a successful compromise. I’m personally experiencing some concerns. I would like the federal government to take into consideration improvements in the practice of the law to ensure equality among Americans when it comes to healthcare. How This Book is Organized This book is made up of three main parts. In Chapter 1, I give some background explaining my experience with ACA both as a certified public accountant (CPA) and a certified insurance agent. I also give my argument for why there should be healthcare reform based on the current high cost of healthcare, insurance company capitalism, and the Medicare Part D “Donut Hole”. Chapter 2 explains the audience for which this book is intended: the individual tax payer. In this chapter, I introduce individual tax impacts that I expand upon in Part 2 (Chapters 3 through 8). Those chapters cover the following topics: Tax Credit (Chapter 3), Tax Penalty (Chapter 4), the 8 Percent Rule (Unaffordable Coverage) (Chapter 5), the 9.5 Percent Rule (Employer Coverage) (Chapter 6), Filing Status and Dependency (Chapter 7), and Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) (Chapter 8). Part 3 comprises two chapters. Chapter 9 discusses the new structure for Form 1040 and other new tax forms. Chapter 10 examines several short practical case studies in a question answer format. Finally, I include a glossary of relevant terms.