[quote=spdrun]I’m confused. You said that most companies offer spousal coverage, yet the employee has to pay it out of pocket anyway (at a lower rate than an individual plan, though).
So the exchanges will essentially extend this to families where one parent is self-employed and the other is a homemaker or part-timer. It doesn’t sound like it will discriminate based on gender either, since the exchanges will be available to all who aren’t covered by an employer….[/quote]
Yes, “group rates” for an employer-sponsored health plan are MUCH lower than rates for individual plans. But even more important was the fact that employer-sponsored health coverage could not discriminate against a SAH spouse or partner who had pre-existing conditions as individual coverage did. Many employees who covered spouses could not even get coverage at all on the open market for them because of their pre-existing conditions.
All this is changing with the inception of the HCRA (“Obamacare”). Now the exchanges, although not priced as cheaply as employer group rates, will treat every applicant who is the same age and gender exactly the same no matter what their pre-existing conditions were or are.
If a family who applies to insure an unemployed spouse on the state exchange qualifies for tax credits, then the unemployed/self-employed spouse’s premiums could very well be as low or even lower than employer group rates (the actual premium the employed spouse’s employer would pay for that spouse coverage). In CA, the size of the tax credit will depend on the AGI (or MAGI, if applic, as UCGal stated) reported on their 2012 state tax return.
