As a registered Democrat who did not vote for Obama - both in the primaries and in the general elections - and as an American citizen living in Israel, I am allowed to complain.
Along with his recent snub of our Prime Minister, here comes news that Obama's health care plan includes a (penalty) fee of $750 per person, for American citizens living abroad; for my $1,500 (myself and Raphaela) we receive the privilege of a health care plan which we cannot use.
Raphaela and I already have basic and additional private health insurance here in Israel.
As a woman with her own Chiropractic clinic, I already pay a self-employment tax to the American government, as there is no reciprocity agreement with Israel on this matter. By the time I reach the age of 65, the Social Security I am owed will be bankrupt.
As a single parent, trust me that $1,500 goes a long way towards paying for diapers, especially when I am on maternity leave and not earning money at the moment.
5 comments:
You have a fairly simple way to avoid both of those problems.
Also, do you have a source for the penalty being applied to Americans living overseas who are covered by insurance? Since domestically, it only applies to those who do not have coverage.
just think of it similar to the way we pay taxes for a school system we do not use as well as pay school tuition for yeshiva that costs way more than $1,500. We are paying $30,000 for 2 kids for yeshiva and paying taxes
If you're sending in a 1040, you've now got head of household status with one dependent, and unless you make quite a lot of money, you should be entitled to the earned income credit; you should also be taking the dependent care credit and the child tax credit.
They's yo $1500 and then some. Mazel tov.
from NY times web site
On Monday, Times reporters answered reader questions about how the health care overhaul will affect consumers. But one reader question that remained unanswered was how the legislation will affect Americans abroad. Here’s the answer.
According to Tom Rose, chairman of the Association of Americans Resident Overseas‘ Committee on Social Security and Medicare,
"the legislation doesn’t have any effect on Americans abroad, except that it EXEMPTS them from the penalty for not subscribing to health insurance in the United States. “That is only logical as most Americans abroad have coverage in their country of residence,” Mr. Rose said.
Similarly, the Web site of the American Citizens Abroad organization pointed out that, as of January, neither the House nor Senate bill would tax Americans abroad for not having insurance in the United States, and both “specifically exclude overseas Americans from proposed mandatory U.S. health insurance coverage.”
According to the organization, an earlier version of the Senate health plan would have taxed Americans abroad.
But the group noted on its site that provisions for financing the legislation were “likely to affect Americans overseas, whether they be additional taxes on high incomes or increased deductions for Medicare and Social Security (which would affect American-owned businesses abroad).”
How do you think the legislation will affect Americans living abroad? If you’re an expat, how do you think the legislation may affect you?
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