Health insurance decisions

[Tammy]

I’m looking at options/cost comparisons for health insurance for 2021. Assuming I am still not able to work.

(Update: I’ll be completing long term disability paperwork soon. I’m stalled at about 80% recovery from covid. Good enough for a quiet life at home. Able to cook and do light housework. Not good enough yet to work. Still need so much rest ... both night and day.)

I’m comparing the 3 options below for insurance. If I’m approved for disability, I’ll be earning enough that options 2 and 3 will both cost the same - somewhere between $1500-2500 a month for the two of us depending on the plan. I haven’t yet explored the cost of cobra, although I hear it’s usually one of the more expensive options. SO will be 61 in January. I’ll be 59 next week. Many years until the magical Medicare age of 65. At which time we could both be insured for well under 1000 a month for a good plan.

(If I do not qualify for disability and still can’t work, we can get an Obamacare plan for less than 500 a month.)

The options:

1. Cobra
2. Plan via the pension’s disability policy
3. Obama care


The thoughts that have me awake after midnight:

A. I would like any input you have.
B. I’m learning firsthand how devastating it can be to not be able to work these last 5-6 years before my planned retirement date.
C. If we would be civilized like Canada this would not be a concern. My benefits would continue, regardless of employment.

[Yppej]

Is insurance through your SO not an option? Do you carry coverage for SO or only yourself?

[catherine]

C. If we would be civilized like Canada this would not be a concern. My benefits would continue, regardless of employment.

Isn't it a b*tch?? It is SO RIDICULOUS that we are still linked to healthcare through our employers! And then, if we aren't employed we have to pay through the nose, just when we don't have the income. Does that make any sense at all??? And your circumstances were thrust on you because you were a servant of the people, keeping other people healthy.

OK, you got my heart rate up this morning.

Can you compare the benefits you would have for options 2 and 3 and then decide? Also, check out COBRA rates but you are right, they don't save you much, if anything, over just going out on your own. It will not be cheap.

You will have to see what your income level is going to be before you'll be able to find out what your ACA subsidies are.

[iris lilies]

Isn't it a b*tch?? It is SO RIDICULOUS that we are still linked to healthcare through our employers! And then, if we aren't employed we have to pay through the nose, just when we don't have the income. Does that make any sense at all??? And your circumstances were thrust on you because you were a servant of the people, keeping other people healthy.

OK, you got my heart rate up this morning.

Can you compare the benefits you would have for options 2 and 3 and then decide? Also, check out COBRA rates but you are right, they don't save you much, if anything, over just going out on your own. It will not be cheap.

You will have to see what your income level is going to be before you'll be able to find out what your ACA subsidies are.

Tammy I can’t help you because we didn’t consume much healthcare at all because we didn’t have conditions and so when we were considering Health insurance I was mainly looking at insurance against catastrophic events which of course Obamacare has denied me. So we went with my employer’s COBRA option for the maximum time we could which was super expensive but it was just easier for me to do that then talk DH through an ACA option. Then when COBRA ran out for us, we went to an ACA policy and it was much much much cheaper.

catherine, Truly don’t understand your rant about having to pay through the nose because ACA policies are heavily subsidized if you don’t have much income. The one full year we were on ACA we paid little to nothing. The second year we ended up paying quite a lot, settling up at tax time, because we had a big family inheritance but that’s fine it’s all smoke and mirrors.

Bottom line is that the ACA exists to help people with low income. Our president, Barack Obama, deemed it affordable regardless of income. So whether you take a bronze or silver or gold plan depends on how much/what kind of healthcare you consume and so you have to look at what you’re going to use and how those policies benefit your consumption of healthcare services.

[catherine]

catherine, Truly don’t understand your rant about having to pay through the nose because ACA policies are heavily subsidized if you don’t have much income. The one full year we were on ACA we paid little to nothing. The second year we ended up paying quite a lot, settling up at tax time, because we had a big family inheritance but that’s fine it’s all smoke and mirrors.

It's a rant because even Obama said that Obamacare is just step one to get us to a more sensible healthcare plan that makes healthcare affordable for individuals AND the country. It's just a very convoluted, wasteful system. Clinging to this system when all other countries have found a better way is like saying, "You may have those fancy Mercedes-Benzes and Lexuses but WE have our horse and buggy!!"

[iris lilies]

Ok.

the complaining about ACA policies that obviously work well for many people is what makes me skeptical of there EVER being healthcare that satisfies everyone, a world where I dont have to listen to complaints about what gubmnt isnt handing out.

ACA policies fit early retirees very well. Of course, they have to pay something in some way. I guess it is all supposed to be “ free.”

[Tradd]

Tammy, my suggestion is going to be to contact an independent insurance agent. I have friends who are self-employed and that’s how they obtain their insurance.

[iris lilies]

Tammy, my suggestion is going to be to contact an independent insurance agent. I have friends who are self-employed and that’s how they obtain their insurance.

Sure, I have many friends who are self-employed and who have private insurance because they make more than the ACA cliff. Depends on Tammy’s Income. The cliff for getting no subsidies on an ACA policy was at one time around $63,000 for two people. I don’t think that has changed much if any.

Just last week one of those friends said they pay $16,000 a year. I’m not sure if that’s for one person or two but he implied it was for one person. You are NOT going to pay that much on an ACA policy with subsidies.

edited to make sense.

[Tradd]

It was just a suggestion. See what rates are, compare plans.

[catherine]

I guess it is all supposed to be “ free.”

So are roads, fire and police, and libraries.