Would you try to step in?

[illgetthere]

My mom went through medical treatment last year that has her not thinking the best. I have been giving her advice and helping her make decisions.
She left her job a couple months ago and just got ACA insurance. I did her application with her, filling it out and walking her through it all. We only put her SS income as it is all that she knows at this time. She has hopes to work a little here and there during the year but nothing lined up. I told her after she actually worked some and knew she would have extra income, she could report it. Evidently, she talked to the ACA people on the phone and they convinced her I had greatly increased her income so she set it at 50% higher than what I actually did. He raised her deductible from zero to over 3k and her max OOP from $900 to $6500.
We might be able to reverse this, but she is doing things not realizing it's messing them up. Let it go? I made sure she realized what happened.

[Cappy]

I'd intervene. Who knows what she said to the ACA folks. She may be feeling optimistic about her future job prospects but unemployed and living off SSI you just don' t know what is in store. As you said, you can adjust if her income actually starts to come in again so as to not be disingenuous. Unlike most other income based things ACA is based on future vs. past. That is such a big difference in deductible and premium that it will make a significant impact on her. And since her reason for unemployment is medical, chances are she's going to need that help.

[ohgillian]

Yes, I think you need to step in here, unless she can easily cover the new higher deductible and OOP max.

[redheadk]

You need to step in. Hoping to get a job without any actual job prospects is not particularly promising and she certainly shouldn't state her projected income as what it would be in an ideal world. If she's living off SS alone, that is really tight every month. No need to pay more for insurance for no reason.

[illgetthere]

Thanks. I'll head over this weekend and see if we can drop her income back down.