This Obamacare Subsidy Calculator is Actually Pretty Reassuring

Subsidy Calculator | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Under the ACA (Affordable Care Act—which some demonize as "Obamacare," while the rest of us laud it as "Obamacare!") folks without employer-provided healthcare will need to buy there own private insurance. That's expensive, so the federal government is going to subsidize the purchase--at a *much* more generous rate than many of us expect, I'd wager.

For example: Although I work (and earn about half our household income), I'm a freelancer and have no benefits. All of that comes through my wife's job (as an evil-lazy-no-good-terrible-leaching teacher). Running the numbers here, I discover that if my wife were to lose her job--leaving us with just my earnings and no healthcare--we'd be covered 100% for basic insurance, and $100 per month for good insurance (i.e., basically the deal we have through my wife's school).

That's pretty profound.

Were such a disaster to strike, between my income, lowered household expenses (no more commute, much less out-of-home childcare), and our savings, we'd actually be able to keep our house and maintain our lives in our community for a couple years while she looked for work.

In case it can't go without saying, this substantially changes the hold employers have over their workers, many of whom might elect to walk away from unjust working situations now that doing so *won't* certainly and quickly consign their loved ones to poverty.

Just sayin' . . .