Kesshisan

Hello Jon Cohn, thank you for doing this AMA.

I believe I am a candidate that Obamacare was intended to help, but everything I have seen shows that I am about to get screwed next year. Could you please help me out?

I am 33 years old living with my parents while I go back to school in the down economy and get an education. I have made approximately $0 per year for the last three+ years. I am fully dependent on my parents right now.

Both parents are small business owners, and they have a lot of income. Both parents are small business owners and have a lot of expenses. Their incomes are high but their final take home dollar amount is not high. Every website calculator I have looked at indicates that I do not qualify for an exemption or major discounts, and that I will still have to pay a significant amount ($3,000 to $5,000 more or less) for coverage through Obama care, or pay a fine.

Am I missing something? Am I totally going to get screwed? Is there another option I could utilize that will save me money a significant amount of money, or better yet, is there an option where I pay nothing?

To give you an idea of how much financial hardship we're experiencing, this semester we had to choose between buying car insurance or me going to school; we chose me going to school. An extra few thousand could mean the difference between me going to school or not (community college.)

Thank you for your time.

Edit:

A lot of replies to this comment are saying effectively "That doesn't sound right." I AGREE! This seems really wrong to me. That's why I asked this question.

I don't make any money, but every website calculator I've used says I'm going to be forced to pay many thousands of dollars for health care or be fined for not buying healthcare due to the household I live in. Saying "This seems wrong" doesn't help me at all. I already know this seems wrong. I agree with everyone who says "this seems wrong." I'm not here to argue the politics, or say "This is a bad move for everybody" or be a figurehead in any political movement. My main concern is finding the most affordable way to survive next year while still continuing my education.

If you have legitimate information that can help me, I'll be all ears. But if all you can say is "This doesn't seem right, so you must be lying" (Note: Nobody explicitly said this) then you aren't being helpful. And while I can't keep you from replying, just realize that such comments will now fall upon deaf ears.

I'm looking for help, not to scream and shout and say this is why we can't have nice things. I need help, and very few people are providing anything close to help in a thread, I thought, was supposed to be helpful.

If I witness a minor car accident (no injuries), what are details I should commit to memory (or write down and save) that would help you to process things accurately?

How should I communicate that I was a witness? Is putting my name and contact information on a piece of paper handed to the people involved good enough, or should I do more?

Does any of this information change if I witness a more dangerous accident?