Do I Pay The ObamaCare Penalty Living in Costa Rica?

[quote=”sweikert925″]There was a pretty long thread here about that a few months ago and I have been trying since then to get an answer to that very question. I tried asking the US State Department, both of my senators and my Congressman and NONE OF THEM ever replied.

I sent another request to the US Embassy in CR to see if they can now provide an answer that makes sense (their original response was: [i]Health coverage is a requirement of the Costa Rican Immigration Office according to the Costa Rican Immigration law not the U.S. law. Any questions about it should be directed to the Costa Rican Immigration Office http://www.migracion.go.cr or a Costa Rican attorney knowledgeable in Costa Rican Immigration law.[/i]) which of course is a ridiculous answer.

We’ll see if they have a better answer now that the individual mandate for coverage portion of the law is about to take affect – assuming they’re not all on “furlough” at the moment.[/quote]

In order for your elected officials to reply they would have had to have READ and UNDERSTOOD what they voted on! Apparently they did neither. Pretty sad and the norm these days. Much like a lot of laws time will define the rules, there will be surprises, and unintended consequences.

No matter what the outcome some people will not be happy. And as the case with most government programs working productive people will pay the price and get little!

[quote=”bogino”]If an American citizen is living in CR, or anywhere else for that matter, will they still have to pay the “penalty”?[/quote]

Bogino

Common sense would dictate

NO

but as you are well aware of its not about common sense or fair practices.. its more like them getting their money regardless..

this should be interesting to see how this unfolds

can you imagine.. you live out of the country for years and you go and visit only to find you owe thousands in penalty fee’s :shock::shock:

[quote=”sweikert925″]Important News Update on This Topic:

Apparently SOMEONE in the US government has thought about this question and provided US citizens living abroad with a definitive answer to it.

[i][b]U.S. citizens living outside the U.S.[/b]

U.S. citizens living in a foreign country are not required to get health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. If you’re uninsured and living abroad, you don’t have to pay the fee that other uninsured U.S. citizens may have to pay.
[/i]

https://www.healthcare.gov/am-i-eligible-for-coverage-in-the-marketplace/%5B/quote%5D

Not so fast there my friend! That answer is much too simplistic to be a legitimate resolute answer to a complicated issue! Must a US citizen living abroad have legal residency in the foreign country they are living in to avoid the health insurance requirement? If not just how is Uncle Sam going to verify your residency status/living location and give you an exemption to the requirements of Obamacare?

I doubt VERY much that simply claiming to live in a foreign country gets you off the hook. There will be more. Legal residency in a foreign country and a minimum period per year outside the US will no doubt also be required. Uncle Sam is not going to let all the perpetual tourist off the hook that “live” outside the US.

It also brings up the issue of US citizens living (legitimately or not) abroad that might be exempt from required insurance purchase who run home to the US for medical treatment when confronted with a serious life threatening health issue. How will they be dealt with under Obamacare when given an exemption from it’s requirements only to use the US healthcare system for what can often be medical treatment that runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars as is often the case with cancer?

I think the answer given above needs to be expanded on as it is much too simple to be used when making meaningful decisions. Two sentences is far from providing a “definitive” answer to such a complex and important issue.

imexploring

you know your right.. and this is scary thought that may need some feedback from expats that actually live here.

and the very fact that the IRS is in charge with this they will set the precedent as to what is acceptable or not

[b]and please let me know your thoughts on this…[/b]

if one has not filed tax returns for whatever reason.. they may use this as the tool for insufficient proof according to them that you are not eligible for exemption from Obamacare. Which may mean one has to be 100% fully compliant in filing.. NOT owing BUT filing.. to be able to be exempt.
( we are talking about the IRS here.. all they care about is.. they want their money)

As you and I know if one lives out of the country more than 330 days.. one does not pay taxes on income of I think its $90,000 I could be wrong but its in that area

but Living out of the country does not allow you to NOT file a return.

SO

to fully comply one has to have a specialized accountant to prepare all the paperwork because of the extraordinary complexity of rules that they make expats go thru.

So even if you owe NO money paying you still have to pay to get your offshore tax returns which costs a nice sum..

this is not some easy turbo tax $50 return.. this is expensive.. and must be done every year

[b]please tell me where I am off so far..[/b].

so in essence you have to pay.. to tell them you don’t owe any money..:D

this is one of the biggest reasons people are giving up their US citizenship’s.

OK.. so if one has legal residence here.. and has been out of the states for 10 years..

and just decided to not file any longer.. I would speculate that you will NOT be exempt from Obamacare..

and could rack up penalties over the years.. which is eventually going to lead to controlling travel as this information will eventually be merged with passport information. ( they did this with a pilot program on alleged parents on back child support)

Which could eventually lead to having your passport detained when you are at the airport.

I see this type of collaboration a soon to be reality.. again this is the IRS..

and Imexploring.. thanks for bringing up that point.. my guard was down.. when I read that .. it is too easy and leads to interpretation..

The key will be what the IRS defines as living out of the country.

I myself have had it with this thievery ..:evil::evil::evil::evil: and am working on getting totally rid of my U.S. passport.. they can keep it.. soon.. within a year I will be free…

we shall see how this unfolds

[quote=”imxploring”][quote=”sweikert925″]Important News Update on This Topic:

Apparently SOMEONE in the US government has thought about this question and provided US citizens living abroad with a definitive answer to it.

[i][b]U.S. citizens living outside the U.S.[/b]

U.S. citizens living in a foreign country are not required to get health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. If you’re uninsured and living abroad, you don’t have to pay the fee that other uninsured U.S. citizens may have to pay.
[/i]

https://www.healthcare.gov/am-i-eligible-for-coverage-in-the-marketplace/%5B/quote%5D

Not so fast there my friend! That answer is much too simplistic to be a legitimate resolute answer to a complicated issue! Must a US citizen living abroad have legal residency in the foreign country they are living in to avoid the health insurance requirement? If not just how is Uncle Sam going to verify your residency status/living location and give you an exemption to the requirements of Obamacare?

I doubt VERY much that simply claiming to live in a foreign country gets you off the hook. There will be more. Legal residency in a foreign country and a minimum period per year outside the US will no doubt also be required. Uncle Sam is not going to let all the perpetual tourist off the hook that “live” outside the US.

It also brings up the issue of US citizens living (legitimately or not) abroad that might be exempt from required insurance purchase who run home to the US for medical treatment when confronted with a serious life threatening health issue. How will they be dealt with under Obamacare when given an exemption from it’s requirements only to use the US healthcare system for what can often be medical treatment that runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars as is often the case with cancer?

I think the answer given above needs to be expanded on as it is much too simple to be used when making meaningful decisions. Two sentences is far from providing a “definitive” answer to such a complex and important issue.[/quote]

[quote=”sweikert925″][Why do people say “No offense, but…” and then say something deliberately meant to be offensive and assume that it somehow negates the insult?]

Anyway, you seem to think you know exactly what imxploring was getting at when he linked “getting an exemption from the ACA penalty” with “returning to the US for medical treatment”. I don’t. I see no connection between those 2 things UNLESS he (and you?) think that getting medical care in the US is somehow affected by the Obamacare penalty exemption. Why would that be? Please explain.[/quote]

If I would have said you HAVE a reading comprehension disorder … that would have been offensive. Asking if you have a reading comprehension disorder … and even explaining up front no offense is meant by my question … the decision to be offended and insulted is YOUR choice and I’ll leave it at that and NOT continue a conversation with someone who reads into words where there is nothing to read into and/or read words in between words where no words exist in between.

interesting points of view.. can someone tell me opposite??

In the current fight over the government shutdown, Republicans are simply representing the views of the American people.

Americans didn’t ask for Obamacare, they don’t want it, but now their insurance premiums are going through the roof, their doctors aren’t accepting it, and their employers are moving them into part-time work — or firing them — to avoid the law’s mandates.

Contrary to Obama’s promises, it turns out: You can’t keep your doctor, you can’t keep your insurance — you can’t even keep your job. In other words, it’s a typical government program, but this one wrecks your health care.

Also, the president did raise taxes on the middle class in defiance of his well-worn campaign promise not to. Indeed, Obamacare is the largest tax hike in U.S. history.

Among the other changes effected by this law are:

— Obamacare will allow insurers to charge 50 percent higher premiums for smokers, but prohibits insurers from increasing premiums for those with HIV/AIDS.

— Nationally, Obamacare will increase men’s individual insurance premiums by an average of 99 percent and women’s by 62 percent. In North Carolina, for example, individual insurance premiums will triple for women and quadruple for men.

— Health plans valued at $27,500 or more for a family of four will be taxed at a rate of 40 percent.

— No doctors who went to an American medical school will be accepting Obamacare.

— A 62-year-old man earning $46,000 a year is entitled to a $7,836 government tax credit to buy health insurance. But if he earns an extra $22 in income, he loses the entire $7,836 credit. He will have more take-home pay by earning $46,000 than if he earns $55,000. (If he’s lucky, he already works for one of the companies forced by Obamacare to reduce employees’ hours!)

— Merely to be eligible for millions of dollars in grants from the federal government under Obamacare, education and training programs are required to meet racial, ethnic, gender, linguistic and sexual orientation quotas. That’s going to make health care MUCH better!

— Obamacare is turning America into a part-time nation. According to a recent report by economist John Lott, 97 percent of all jobs added to the economy so far this year have been part-time jobs. Ninety-seven percent!

— Obamacare is such a disaster that the people who wrote it refuse to live under it themselves. That’s right, Congress won a waiver from Obamacare.

Responding to the people’s will, House Republicans first voted to fund all of government — except Obamacare. Obama refused to negotiate and Senate Democrats refused to pass it.

Then the Republicans voted to fully fund the government, but merely delay the implementation of Obamacare for one year. Obama refused to negotiate and Senate Democrats refused to pass it.

Finally, the Republicans voted to fully fund the government, but added a requirement that everyone live under Obamacare. No more special waivers for Congress and their staff, and no waivers for big business without the same waivers for individuals.

Obama refused to negotiate and Senate Democrats refused to pass it. So as you can see, Republicans are the big holdup here.

A longtime Democratic operative, Karen Finney, explained the Democrats’ intransigence on MSNBC to a delighted Joan Walsh (aka the most easily fooled person on TV) by comparing House Republicans to a teenager trying to borrow his mother’s car. “No, I’m not negotiating!” Mother says. “It’s MY CAR!”

This wasn’t a stupid slip of the tongue that other Democrats quickly rejected. Finney had used the exact same metaphor to a panel of highly agreeable MSNBC guests the day before. (MSNBC books no other kind of guest.)

The left thinks the government is their car and the people’s representatives are obstreperous teenagers trying to borrow the government. Which belongs to Democrats.

That’s not how the Constitution views the House of Representatives. To the contrary, the House is considered most reflective of the people’s will because its members are elected every two years.

As a matter of fact, the Republicans who mistakenly assume they have something to do with running the government represent most of the people who pay taxes to run it. So it’s more like a teenager who is making the car payments, maintaining the car insurance and taking responsibility for registering the car being told: “It’s not your car.”

But the Democrats refuse to even negotiate. It’s their government — and if you Republicans think you’re going out dressed like that, you’ve got another thing coming! Needless to say, they absolutely will not consider the Republicans’ demand that Democrats merely live under Obamacare themselves.

Instead, Democrats say “the Koch brothers” are behind the effort to defund Obamacare.

They say Republicans are trying to “burn the whole house down” (Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz); “have lost their minds” (Sen. Harry Reid); are trying to negotiate “with a bomb strapped to their chest” (senior White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer); are “legislative arsonists” (Rep. Nancy Pelosi); and are engaging in “blatant extortion” (White House press secretary Jay Carney).

The MSNBC crowd calls Republicans “arsonists” every 15 minutes. They ought to check with fellow MSNBC host Al Sharpton. He knows his arsonists! In 1995, Sharpton whipped up a mob outside the Jewish-owned Freddy’s Fashion Mart with an anti-Semitic speech. Sometime later, a member of the mob torched the store, killing seven Hispanic employees.

Every single Democrat in the country uses the exact same talking point: We “refuse to negotiate with a gun being held to our head.”

Which means the Democrats will not negotiate at all — not now, not ever. House Republicans have already passed three-dozen bills defunding, or otherwise modifying, Obamacare. Senate Democrats and liberal commentators had a good laugh at Republicans for passing them.

Now they’re paying attention!

If you are in the minority of Americans not already unalterably opposed to Obamacare, keep in mind that the only reason the government is shut down right now is that Democrats refuse to fund the government if they are required to live under Obamacare.

That’s how good it is!

[quote=”pixframe”]David, in the last Presidential election the linchpin of Romney’s campaigned was his promise to repeal Obamacare and he lost the election. The electorate wanted Obamacare.

[quote=”davidd”]interesting points of view.. can someone tell me opposite??

… Americans didn’t ask for Obamacare, they don’t want it,
That’s how good it is![/quote][/quote]

pixframe

thanks for the update.. I may have to disagree with you on that statement

Truthfully it was the current administration that did all it could to keep things from emerging from the closet that kept Romney from winning the election

no let me rephrase that.. all the people that would have been affected with Romney being elected.. even big bird..:)

or carlos slim one of the richest men in the world.

🙂