Means Test Health Insurance Question

[depeche3]

I feel like a dork for asking but here goes...........On line 19 or so on the Means test it asks the # of people that are age 65 or under. I have 5 and that is multiplied by 60 which equals 300 and this question relates to health care. Later on there are two other spots to enter health insurance info (lines 31 and 34 I think). On my paystub I'm getting $430 taken out every two weeks for health insurance. Which line do I use or is the $300 the max you get????
My employer figures our healthcare like this..............
TOTAL for family per month............$1350
Employer pays..............................$500
Employer adds $550 per month to our gross wages to help offset health costs
My check stub lists my health insurance deduction as $860 per month
In reality I'm paying..........1350 minus-500 minus 550 = $300 out of pocket.
Single folks just get the $550 as a raise I guess. Can I list the 860 as my cost? They are adding $550 a month to my gross pay that is being used to figure my annual salary for the means test purpose.

[wickedlate]

Wow that's confusing.

[geye]

I can't answer your first question as I'm still learning, but....

I would think the employer separating out what you get extra in your wages to offset health costs doesn't really mean anything on your end. It's part of your wages any way you slice it.

So, in reality you make the total amount of money the employer pays you, and then pay $860 per month in health care.

[justbroke]

The forms are simple, so just follow the form. The first healthcare costs section is what is known as your monthly "out-of-pocket" expenses to pay for prescriptions and other health related items. That's why you get $60 a month per person. Just put that in Line Form B22A 19B and don't worry about how it relates to your healthcare incurance.

On Form B22A line 34, you put your ACTUAL payroll deduction for healthcare on that line. Since your employer uses a technique called a gross-up, that's included in your salary, so you don't need to perform any complex calculation since your "income" reflects this already. In other words, don't try to subtract out numbers. If it reads on your paystuf that you pay $860month for health insurance ($430 x 2), then that is what you put on Form B22A line 34.

I don't want you double counting things. Again, if your wages are actually grossed-up, then you don't need to be doing all that subtraction work.

(Please note that the employer grossing up your salary by $550 is not the equivalent of the employer paying $550 towards your insurance. The employer actually has to pay taxes on the $550 which can be as high as 36%. This is why you need not worry about the gross up. Just considered the insurance bump "factored". There are many accounting reasons why a company would gross-up a salary to offset insurance costs. )

[momofthree]

Justbroke summed it up. The $300/mo ($60/person) has nothing to do with health insurance. It's for co-pays, prescriptions, and any other out-of-pocket expenses that you incur.

[depeche3]

Thank you all very much for the replies. It looks like I was really over thinking it.......