Want Obamacare? Get Ready to Share the Details of Your Life Changes With the Feds.

Americans receiving tax credits for health care they get through
the Affordable Care Act are likely to
take a hit on their tax refunds, warns USA Today.
That’s because they took an advance against those tax credits when
they signed up for coverage, but come tax filing time, actual
numbers may not square with earlier estimates. If that’s the case
(and when do financial estimates ever line up with reality at the
end of the year?) the tax collectors will demand money back.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
Obamacare customers’ new and very intimate relationships with the
federal government. In order to make sure their credits line up
with their personal circumstances, people purchasing health
coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace are suppposed to

update the government on any major life changes. The new
relationship between customers and federal officials, to judge by the IRS’s
documents, seems a bit like reporting in to a parole
officer.

Actually, it’s a lot like reporting in to a parole
officer.

Obamacare customers should contact the government in case of:
birth or adoption, marriage or divorce, moving to another address,
changes in household income, incarceration or release from
incarceration, gaining or losing health care coverage or
eligibility, and other changes in life and prosperity.

You can apparently get a dog without filing a report, but don’t
quote me on that.

Obamacare—the health care coverage for people who think privacy
is way the hell overrated.