What Is Medicaid And How Does It Work

Medicaid is government-provided health insurance for low income individuals and families. Medicaid also seeks to help other disadvantaged individuals including the elderly, the blind, pregnant women and the disabled. While the program is sponsored by the federal government, eligibility limits are set by each state. So, some people may be eligible to participate in Medicaid in one state but not another. The Affordable Care Act was intended make the requirements identical across all states and cover individuals earning up to 100% of the Federal Poverty Level with Marketplace subsidies covering those earning between 100% of 400% of the FPL. However, not all states have agreed to extend Medicaid to all individuals earning up to 100% of the FPL, so implementation of this concept varies by state.

Think About The Cost Is Your Employer Insurance Affordable That Is Is Your Cost For You Only Coverage Less Than Or Equal To 95% Of Your Income

If your employer offers qualified health insurance coverage that is affordable, you are not eligible for a government subsidy. You may still elect to purchase insurance anywhere, however you will not be eligible for a government subsidy. The choice is yours. Before you choose a plan:

• Think about the cost. Is your employer insurance “affordable?” That is, is your cost for “you only” coverage less than or equal to 9.5% of your income?
• If it is, and the insurance meets coverage standards as required by law, you can still buy insurance through a marketplace, but you will not qualify for financial help. If you can’t afford the health insurance offered to you through your employer or in a marketplace, you may qualify for Medicaid, or your children may qualify for the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Each state has its own eligibility requirements for these programs.

What Are The Metallic Plans

The four types of plans available on the public exchanges are referred to as “metallic plans” because they are named after four types of metals:

• Bronze – pays for 60% of all covered costs
• Silver – pays for 70% of all covered costs
• Gold – pays for 80% of all covered costs
• Platinum – pays for 90% of all covered costs

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Do I Qualify For A Subsidy

Find out if you qualify for a Government insurance exchange subsidy by completing our simple questionnaire with our coverage calculator.

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This Report Analyzes And Compares Amazon’s Employee Health Insurance And Employee Benefits With Its Industry And In Washington State

Providing a smart employee benefits package is critical for attracting top talent and retaining valuable employees. Today, employee benefits play a vital role when candidates consider accepting a job offer.

Many companies offer today over-the-top perks, like yoga classes, haircuts, catered meals, and acupuncture. In this report, we focus however on traditional benefits. It’s a work in progress that we will expand and update on a regular basis.

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When Can I Enroll In A New Plan

Under the ACA rules, you can only enroll in a new coverage plan during open enrollment . This year the open enrollment period will run from November 1 through December 15. For the remainder of the year you may only enroll during the Special Enrollment Period if you experience a qualifying life event .

What Kind Of Coverage Will I Receive From Insurance Purchased On The Marketplace

All the plans in the marketplace must cover the same health care services. These services are called “the 10 essential health benefits” or “the Minimum Essential Benefits” and they are:

• Emergency care
• Medical, dental, and eye care for children
• Mental Health and substance abuse services
• Maternity and newborn care
• Preventive care and wellness services
• Ambulatory or “outpatient” care
• Rehabilitative services and devices

all

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Employee Restricted Stock Units

At Amazon, most employees have the ability to become owners of the company through the granting and vesting of Restricted Stock Units . Depending on your job level and if you are scheduled to work 30+ hours per week, you are eligible to:

• Receive a grant of RSUs that vest over time, in accordance with plan documents.
• Have opportunities for additional RSU grants.

Amazon is continually evaluating new ways to provide other types of ownership opportunities for all employees.

How Amazon Employees Are Paid

There are three different ways Amazon employees are paid:

Base salary: This is very straight-forward, you will receive your base salary every month. Outside of the Bay Area and the Greater New York City area, the maximum base salary at Amazon is $160,000.

Sign-on bonus: Many new employees will also receive a year one and a year two sign-on bonus. The bonus is paid out with every paycheck, so in essence, its just additional salary for the first two years you are at Amazon. As a quick example: If you are entitled to a $60,000 year one sign-on bonus, you will receive an additional $5,000 per paycheck. The same method of payment will occur in year two, simply divide your year two sign-on bonus by twelve.

Restricted Stock Units : Stock vests will begin on your first anniversary. Additional shares will vest at the end of year 2 and then every 6 months until youve been with the company for 4 years. Many Amazon employees receive additional refresher RSUs over time.

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How Amazon Healthcare Would Change Digital Health Plans

Perhaps every insurers worst fear is that Amazon will eventually launch its own health plan. The company has given one indication after another that this, too, is a very real possibility. Amazons eventual entrance into healthcare is big news for incumbent insurers because it validates the supposition that Amazon may one day disintermediate health plans and sell its services directly to employers.

Having now worked at CVS, several Blue Cross plans and UnitedHealth Groups Optum, I can definitively conclude these disintermediation fears are not unfounded. Driven by the digital revolution, consumer expectations of a seamless healthcare experience that is both transparent and affordable have finally caught up with the industry. If it can be this easy to shop and purchase products and services on Amazons marketplace, why should healthcare be any different?

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Healthcare consumerism is inevitably on the rise, but the healthcare industry has been slow to catch up with the rapid digitization of its user base. In light of growing employee demand, employers have pushed heavily on health plans and PBMs to make a swath of shiny digital health tools available. This includes everything from app-based wellness programs to virtual chronic condition management for complex therapeutic areas.

Read More: Employers will keep expanding virtual benefits beyond the pandemic

If I Stop Paying For My Insurance Would That Be Considered Involuntary Loss Of Coverage Making Me Eligible To Switch Coverage During The Special Enrollment Period

No. Your loss of coverage must have been involuntary on your part . Additionally, the coverage you lost must have provided what the law considers “minimum essential coverage.” This means that it must have met the coverage requirements of the Affordable Care Act. Losing your dental plan or a short-term health insurance will not qualify you to go out and shop for a new major medical health insurance plan outside of open enrollment.

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What If My Income Changes How Does That Affect My Subsidy

Subsidies are based on your best estimate of your household’s modified adjusted gross income for the year. If your income increases, you may have to pay the government back for any portion of the subsidy you received that you were not eligible for. This reconciliation will take place when you file your government tax return. Also note that if your income changes substantially, you may qualify for a Special Enrollment Period and may be eligible to go back to the exchange and apply for new coverage.

Does Amazon Employee Benefits Change For Different Jobs

Amazon maintains an impartial benefits system and offers Amazon Employee Benefits and Perks uniformly across the company regardless of the Job position of employees. Amazon Employee Benefits for full-time employees are almost the same as part-time employees receive health, life, dental and disability insurance plans. The only difference is, part-time employees have limited to paid time off.

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Its No Secret That The Private Health Insurance Market Is Plagued By Massive Inefficiencies Every Year Most Consumers Are Confused And Overwhelmed By Health Insurance Purchasing And Can Waste Thousands Of Dollars Choosing The Wrong Plan At The Same Time Premiums And Deductibles Are Rapidly Rising At A Rate That Well Outpaces Annual Wage Growth

Opaque pricing models have forced employers and consumers to accept these inefficiencies. Now, Amazon Care is poised to upend this unsatisfactory status quopushing health benefits advisors and carriers to consider ways to bolster their competitive advantage.

Currently, Amazon Care provides Washington state-based Amazon employees access to medical care via telehealth and in-person home visits. In summer 2021, Amazon Care will roll out to all Amazon employees across the country as well as other Washington-based companies. This first expansion is very likely just the beginning of Amazons move into the healthcare space. And since Amazon Care is contracting directly with employers, theyre setting themselves up as a viable alternative to large health insurance providers, and potentially circumventing their brokers entirely.

Whatever the tech giants next move, theres no question that it will disrupt the private health insurance market.

Our health system is incredibly fragmented, which results in massive cost inefficiencies and individuals left largely on their own, says MyHealthMath President and Chief Mission Officer Dr. Elizabeth Cote, MD, MPA. Through conglomeration, Amazon is uniquely capable to solve this chaos and gain efficiencies, giving individuals what they cravea coordinated, predictable, understandable, and comfortable healthcare experience.

In Our Patients’ Words

“I was delighted with my first experience using Amazon Care. Absolutely loved it!”

“Our call was for something fairly easy but the response rate, care and quick turnaround for an antibiotic was probably the best experience I have ever had re: medical concerns.”

“Blown away with how fast, easy, and high quality the whole experience was. It truly raises the bar for healthcare services.”

“I love it so much! I never hesitate to seek help or medical experts opinion anymore due to ease of use AND quality of care. I havenât been to urgent care since using Amazon Care.”

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How Will I Prove I Have Health Insurance

The individual government income tax return rules will tell you what documentation you need to submit as proof of your health coverage. Starting in 2015, you’ll get a certificate from your insurance company that says you have minimum coverage. You’ll have to submit that certificate with your government income tax return to prove you have insurance

What Are Amazons Life Insurance Benefits

As part of the Amazon corporate benefits package, employees receive two types of life insurance.

The first is a basic policy paid directly by Amazon at no cost to you. The basic coverage equals two times your regular salary, up to $500,000.

The second is a supplemental policy that allows you to add life insurance to the basic policy. You cover the cost of the policy, which can be 1-10x your salary, with a $2 million maximum. Age is the primary factor in determining the policy cost. Any benefits over $750,000 may require medical underwriting.

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Salary Starting At $17/hour

According to this Today Show article the starting hourly wage at Costco has recently been raised to $17 per hour.

The $17/hour is for Service Assistants while the starting wage for Service Clerks is $18/hour.

Wanna be a meat cutter? Youll start at $18.50/hour.

For reference this is a higher wage compared to other big box employers.

Factor in Sunday shifts and this wage rises significantly. More on that later.

Also, in case you were wondering, hourly Costco employees top out at about $26 $28/hour and it takes 6-8 years to get there.

I Heard That Some States Made Medicaid Available To More People What States Are Those

The Affordable Care Act sought to make Medicaid available to all individuals earning up to 100% of the Federal Poverty Level . However, not all states have expanded their Medicaid programs accordingly. Currently, 28 States and the District of Columbia have expanded their Medicaid program to cover those earning up to 100% of the FPL. These states include Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania Rhode Island, Utah Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. Twenty-two States have determined that they are not going to expand their Medicaid offering at this point. Those states include Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

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This Story Is Part Of A Group Of Stories Called

Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing and changing us.

More than 30 Amazon workers at a Sacramento warehouse walked off the job this morning, demanding they receive paid time off.

Around 2:45 am on Monday local time, 36 workers out of around 100 in total on the shift left work two hours early after they read a letter to management out loud stating their demands to be granted paid time off and meet with management to discuss their concerns, according to a worker at the site.

These workers who say they lift hundreds of packages a day in back-breaking labor currently receive zero PTO days a year. The walkout comes weeks after workers say management has ignored their requests to meet with leaders of a group organizing around the issue. So far, workers have circulated an internal and public petition gaining over 4,000 signatures in total. The actions have been organized by a group of workers on site called , which led a successful campaign in the past to get multiple colleagues reinstated who were fired for missing work, in one case while the colleague was suffering the loss of a family member.

When workers in Sacramento pointed this out to management, they say they were told the rules dont apply to them since they are a specific subcategory of class q and class m logistics workers a distinction they had previously never heard of and were given no explanation for.

What Is The Employer Mandate

All employees with 50 or more employees will be required to offer health insurance to full time employees. That does not mean you have to buy insurance through your employer it just means it must be made available to you if you are considered a full time employee. Generally, employees that work more than 30 hours per week are considered to be full time employees however, calculation methods may differ and you are encouraged to check with your employer to confirm eligibility for health care coverage.

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What Are Qualifying Life Events

Qualifying Life Events are special occurrences that would allow you to purchase coverage outside of open enrollment. Events that are considered acceptable QLEs include:

• involuntary loss of coverage
• loss of existing health coverage because of a job loss or job change
• permanently moving to a new state
• loss of eligibility for Medicaid or CHIP
• expiration of your COBRA benefits

New Benefits For Amazon Employees Announced

For Amazon employees, a number of new measures are being introduced to deal with the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Among them is a backup family care scheme that aims to help employees with childcare.

During the pandemic, there have been many challenges for employees. In a recent survey, 90% of workers said they were worried about the effects of the pandemic.

Some of the biggest concerns included health worries, school closures and lack of childcare, and issues with remote work. In fact, the same survey found 36% of respondents were worried about the effect working from home was having on their work-life balance.

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