Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Back to Opinion

Trickle-Down Benefits of Obamacare

I recently had a conversation with a cousin. As we discussed our families, he told me proudly about his 27-year old daughter, a nurse. She was working in two interesting but part-time jobs, one at a community health clinic and the other with senior adults. “Great,” I said. “But wait. How does she get health insurance?” She was too old to be on her parents’ policy, a possibility for those under 26 since the adoption of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). The answer was simple. “No problem!” her father said. “She lives in Massachusetts!” Yes, all she needed to do was go to the health care exchange (called the Health Connector); enter a few basic facts, including age, income and ZIP code, and then choose among a number of policies, much as people in other states would compare car insurance policies. (Thanks, Governor Romney.)

By 2014, insurance exchanges similar to those in Massachusetts will be open for every state, with subsidies for those with modest incomes. The implications for all Americans will be profound, which becomes clear when we take a look on how this reform in health care might affect Jewish professionals and the organizations they work for.

First, there will be more possibilities for senior professionals under 65 (the age of eligibility for Medicare) to consider early or partial retirement. There is a very large group of baby boomers approaching the traditional age of retirement. While many are interested in continuing work in various settings, at least some might cut back on hours or consider a new position or career — if they were not to lose health insurance by doing so. By making these career moves, at least some positions would be open for others to move up the ladder. In addition, some new or smaller organizations or congregations would benefit from experienced but possibly part-time professional staff.

Second, younger people who have been avoiding a job move that might result in a loss, or even a gap, in health insurance coverage for themselves or their families, will no longer be in this position. This reform will give them options, even if they have preexisting conditions.

Some talented people will be more willing to consider such moves (professional or geographic) to seek creative opportunities or join start-ups. Large Jewish organizations typically have group health insurance policies for employees, which I hope will continue to be the norm. But smaller organizations, including small congregations with only one or two full-time employees (or none at all), have had great difficulty in offering or paying for health insurance for their staff. That will change in 2014, when small employers (including congregations and other nonprofit institutions) will be able to turn to a “small business” exchange to purchase health insurance policies for employees at reasonable costs.

With the ACA fully in place in 2014, even people with relatively midlevel incomes will be able to take advantage of financial subsidies for health insurance. And out-of-pocket costs, though still possibly substantial, will be capped.

For example, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, using a “silver” (midrange) plan, a 35-year old single person earning $35,000 in 2014 would pay a maximum of $3,325 a year for health insurance with a government subsidy of $637. Additional out-of-pocket expenses would be capped at $4,137. Jeff Gelles, a consumer writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, offers this example: “Coverage through the exchanges will be subsidized for people earning up to 400 percent of the poverty level — close to $90,000 a year for a family of four, though subsidies shrink as income rises.”

The combination of access and subsidies will not solve all the problems Jewish professionals face in finding employment and getting affordable health care. However, the changes due in 2014 will have a positive effect on the number of full-time and part-time Jewish communal jobs available and on the flexibility of people to accept them. Our community will be enriched by these professionals, who can finally focus on their own contribution to the Jewish future without fearing for their health and the well being of themselves and their families in the present.

Robert Tabak is a staff chaplain at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.