I do my family’s federal taxes by Valentine’s Day as we have two kids in daycare, and the refund is a nice means of forced savings that pays for a couple of months of day care with psychologically bucketed “Extra” money. People who are anal retentive or OCD(ish) tend to file early as well as people who know they qualify for Earned Income Tax Credit and need the money immediately tend to file early. Individuals who know they have a complex tax situation may start the process early. But most people who know they have a relatively simple return and don’t need the money immediately don’t file their taxes in the first week of February. They instead wait until the Final 4 is over before filing.
This is important as Obamacare enrollment pace is picking up. The early anal retentives or known needers are filing for insurance but more and more people who are not chronically ill are beginning to get on board:
Covered California has some good data:
The rate of enrollment in Covered California health plans has also increased. As of Nov. 19, 79,891 Californians had selected a health plan. Compared with the first week of October, during which about 700 people a day selected a health plan, the enrollment rate nearly quadrupled by the second week of November, to about 2,700 plan selections per day.
It is looking like California is seeing a November activity rate that is at least three if not four times higher than October’s rates.
One big difference on the timing of filing for taxes and buying health insurance on line is that most people who file a tax refund expect either to break even or to get money back. People looking to buy health insurance are expecting to spend some money. Getting money for free is a motivator while spending money is a depressor of action. Using this logic, we should expect to see more early Medicaid sign-ups as the cost to the individual is effectively nil while Exchange insurance costs money which will lead to delay and surge.
Violet
Yep. Anyone who thought millions of people were going to sign up in October for healthcare they weren’t even going to get until January 1st is just stupid. That’s not how humans work.
Mike E
Not that it’s pending, but I could be going full time here in NC in the near future and health benefits would be part of this potential change.
My question: Should I wait and see what is offered before I sign up on the fed exchange? I currently don’t have ins.
AA+ Bonds
Mine are usually done by the end of January. Why not? I haven’t incorporated myself as a small business with a fiscal year separate from the calendar, and in the case of this year, I already have the best deal I’m going to get on insurance. I have the privilege of the time and knowledge to get it out of the way, so why not use it?
Violet
@Mike E: Couldn’t you sign up and then cancel if you do get benefits? Wouldn’t you rather be covered during any interim period if your benefits don’t start January 1st?
dmsilev
@Mike E: Will you know one way or the other how your employment status will end up before the 23rd of December? If so, I’d wait until that question is resolved, and make your decision then. Otherwise, I’d say go ahead and sign up, and then cancel once your employer-based benefits kick in.
Linda Featheringill
I used to file early and use the refund to pay off the winter heating bill. Yuck. Then I was getting EIC and filed early to get that, which was all spent by April 15. I probably won’t qualify for EIC this year but may need my federal refund to pay for local and state taxes. I think I live in a high tax area.
But it is nice around Tax Day to watch everybody else run around like mice in a maze. Schadenfreude, I guess.
Mike E
@Violet: Herein lies the rub…I suppose my current income would afford me gold coverage at bronze prices, but going f/t would eliminate my subsidy and force me to switch to a more affordable plan, or just take whatever my employer provides. Since the deadline appears to be fungible (Dec 15, Jan 1, Mar 31?) I don’t want to create a bureaucratic nightmare for myself and others. Waiting also affords me a chance to save up for a move to a new place in January. What to do…
Richard Mayhew
@Mike E: My first thought is if you don’t have guaranteed coverage from the potential new job effective Jan. 1, sign up for a Bronze plan on the Exchange if you have decent health for the month of January and then cancel the plan as soon as your employer provided coverage goes into effect.
Don’t run naked if you don’t have to.
Paul in KY
People getting a refund file early. If you gotta pay, you generally wait till April.
Matt McIrvin
I always plan to file early, always end up procrastinating. Sometimes I have the urge to do it around New Year’s but it dissipates if my employer is a little sluggish getting the W2s out.
eldorado
i’ve filed an extension for about ten years running now
Kent
I always boot up the TaxCut software and do my taxes as soon as I have all the paperwork in hand which is usually early February by the time our employers, lenders, and investment accounts have sent us everything.
Whether or not I file my taxes depends of course on whether I owe or have a refund coming. Our income is somewhat variable which makes it really difficult to nail the correct amount of tax paid in advance through withholding. However if I had a big check coming you can be sure I’d be filing in February and not April.
Belafon
I try to do my taxes on Superbowl day. I figure why not have a party celebrating getting paperwork done.
fuckwit
I’m worried that Medi-Cal’s website says I don’t qualify. I thought I would. My clinic said I would. I sure do qualify for $0/month (after subsidy) Bronze plans from Anthem, HealthNet, and Kaiser, according to coveredca.com. But those have $4500 deductibles and 40% coinsurance (I guess that’s 60% copay? Not sure what coinsurance means). I’d rather have Medi-Cal, actually. Hmm.
? Martin
I think it’s simpler than that.
There’s no choice to be made signing up for Medicaid. There are many choices to be made signing up for a plan. When given an opportunity to choose, people feel compelled to invest in that opportunity which creates stress. Some people get overwhelmed by it and find they cannot choose. Either way, it takes a lot more time and energy than not having to make a choice. That seems to be borne out by a lot of the commenters here that have qualified for the exchanges but are taking time to sort out what plan they want. Some are quite clearly stressed by the process – not understanding the nature of the differences between an HMO and a PPO, etc.
(This is part of Apple’s retail theory – too many choices, particularly competing choices along technical variables, creates friction with consumers as they need to invest time and effort in resolving the choice. Some people relish the range of options, but most people don’t, and quite a few will simply throw up their arms and give up.)
Richard Mayhew
@fuckwit: If that is truly your situation and you are just above the Medi-Cal income line for your family situation then strongly think about getting a Cost-Sharing Silver plan (you’ll effectively get a Platinum plan) for <$50/month and total OOP of $700 year.
Bronze plans don't qualify for Cost-share assistance.
rdldot
I took a couple of weeks to figure out which plan I wanted. I was worried about how the payment stuff was going to happen because of stories about the website not communicating totally with the ins companies, but I just got my first bill yesterday (a week after I picked my plan) so, for me, things are working out fine with the website. The first couple of weeks were crappy, but since then it’s been doable. I still have an issue I need to resolved because I will have to take money out of my 401k for next year to qualify for the subsidy (no job).
I’m pretty sure the pace is picking up for enrollment, for all the reasons people have mentioned here. I am also sure that you will never hear that on the MSM as this goes forward. Every little problem will be picked to death, and nothing good will be reported by our ‘liberal’ press. I hate conservatives with a passion, and the news folk that enable their dreck.
Yatsuno
Dear Richard,
Are you TRYING to remind me of the hell that shall await me once I return to my office post-surgery?
MomSense
@Yatsuno:
Wait a minute- you had surgery?? I am missing everything lately. Hope you are recovering well and feel much better.
Stella B
We signed up this weekend because we were sick of thinking about it and because we can afford to have our first month’s payment making money for the insurance company.
Fuckwit: What Richard said. If your monthly income is above $1252, you don’t qualify for MediCal. If you are under that and the website is still not letting you qualify, then call the 800 number and talk to a navigator.
maurinsky
I’m in college. I do my taxes as soon as I have my W-2s in hand and get an application in to FAFSA by February 1.
johnny aquitard
Yikes! I’m in Wisconsin, and the company I work for offers health insurance to us employees from Unity Insurance, and I am currently enrolled in the family version of it.
I just got a memo that said Unity offered the company to renew our current plan early (it would have ended in April 2014) in order to delay adoption of a plan that falls under the ACA law.
Unity presented my company with the premiums for the early renewal of the existing plan, and for a comparable plan under the ACA.
For the family policy, the early renewal means the monthly premiums will go up about 7%, from about $870 to $930.
For the Affordable Care Act group plan the monthly premium would go up 67-75%! From $870 to somewhere between $1,460 and $1,530!
WTF. That’s gonna leave a helluva mark on this middle class family when this renewal finally ends. I haz a sad, as the internet kidz say.
mazareth
I file my taxes as soon as I get my W-2. This year I need my refund ASAP. My 20 year old furnace died on the 16th. I need to come up with $4000 that I wasn’t expecting to spend. The one good thing about the whole situation is that I’ve now converted from oil to natural gas.
Anna in PDX
Because I am helping with my son’s college I do my taxes as soon as I can get my act together in early Feb. My employer usually gets me my W-2s before the end of Jan and I use TurboTax and becuase i don’t own a home it takes me a couple of hours tops. It is also great to get the refund (and because of tuition tax credit I have gotten refunds for the past few years – he is a junior this year) before the spring tuition bill is due — because it helps. So I have a very powerful motivator to get it done as early as humanly possible, too.
Anna in PDX
@mazareth: Our furnace is not working very great and is really really old (1970s?) – we have so far been able to keep it going but the pilot keeps going out and we are hoping to avoid this cash-ectomy until next year. I feel for you!