How I’m Covering Health Insurance Before Medicare After Retiring at 54

Sounded like the ACA was a better options for less risks

My wife and I have pensions that will keep us from getting ACA subsidies. We also will have 2 kids under age 26. We will do COBRA for the 18- months, then go to… something else. If it has to be full priced ACA, we won’t like it, but we will be able to afford it.

Medicare for all would take care of all that.

My spouse retired 4 years ago. I am 60 and will be working at least until I qualify for Medicare. We have a medical history which looks bad on paper and I'm not willing to take a chance on poor medical coverage, spend a lot each month for healthcare, or restrict our income. Fortunately, I enjoy my job, only work 3 days a week, and I'm not ready to end my career.

Why not do ACA? For a couple, so long as your “profits” from investments don’t go beyond $84k/year you can get real insurance. So sell stocks but make sure your profits are under $84k, if you need more money then use initial capital (cash) to fill the gaps. ACA requires that your income be below $84600 for MFJ, which means you have full control over where your income comes from, it just requires planning. If you can’t use ACA now, then I would work hard to restructure the portfolio today, so that you can qualify for it next year. Mean time, I would pay full price or use cobra until the portfolio is restructured to have enough post tax funds.

Not all Health Share options are ministries. Wish people would stop classifying them as such since the ministry-based ones have religious pledges which may not be appealing to some people. Zion HealthShare is one that is not religious and it is the one we went with. We are very happy with it. Less than $500/mo for the two of us.

Thanks for video. I’m on COBRA through the end of the year. I looked at ACA plans for this year but they were more expensive with much higher deductibles and Out of Pocket maximums than my COBRA. I see no way I can get MAGI low enough for subsidies. I get an HRA from my ex employer which can go to an ACA plan but it doesn’t even cover 2 months of premiums. I’ll need to look at my options in the next few months for next year and 6 years until 65.

Keep your AGI (1099 DIV, INT plus rental or other income) below 50K and if you choose a Gold POS plan (assuming that, since young in network coverage will be enough -for us our doctors were part of the network), the monthly BCBS charges around $135 per month with a $1000 (one thousand only) deductible with free generic prescription drugs. Much better than my previous employer paln. So, if you can control AGI, you can cut the employer lose anytime.

i want to retire at 60.... i think i will just find someone a little bit younger than me and ride out their employer insurance 😂

Thanks for sharing your story, you talked about some options I didn’t even know exist. I’ll probably end up going with the ACA and using my HSA to pay for the first two years of coverage (it’s all I’ll have saved up by then to cover).

Thank you Scott for your detail explanation. Can we sign up for an HSA eligible coverage? It can reduce the taxable income .

Healthcare system and affordability in our country is completely broke. It’s totally controlled by insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

Health care insurance after retirement is a very scary topic indeed but dealing with mother in law who wants to visit on a daily basis knowing that you are now retired with all the free time in the world is way scarier.

High quality bronze plan for a family of four. Take the subsidies every other year (just keep income low in off years). Rebalance, Roth conversions in off years as necessary. COBRA dental is usually really good, use it for the first 18 months (not required to go Medical for COBRA). Health Sharing is not real insurance, I would skip.

Great information, thank you for taking the time to share your health care experience.

I have Tricare.

Good content. No one mentioned an Healthcare Broker to assist in reaching.

Nice job on this Scott, one of the better videos I've seen that presents an honest real-time view of what this is like. You've also generated some pretty good suggestions and comments below. I'm 61.5 and just researching what people are doing. My girlfriend and I could probably retire but we're in that sort of purgatory where we're finally making okay money, don't hate our jobs, and stand to do well with pension plan pay outs if we work a few more years. Sometimes people refer to this as "golden handcuffs". If I knew there was a high likelihood of everything working out I'd be more tempted to jump. Unfortunately I think we are in for above average inflation, a serious market correction, and some amount of devaluing of the dollar as well.

So, currently, my plan is to continue working for at least another couple of years but I like to see what options are available since staying employed in your 60s these days isn't as easy as it once was. When I finally do decide I want to make sure I'm completely ready and don't turn into one of these horror stories of people trying to go back to work after being retired for 2-3 years.

Frankly, while I don't have any specific data to point to, my belief based upon published average 401K/IRA account balances, social security info, the fact that few people have pensions and many aren't inflation adjusted, is that many of the folks retiring 10+ years early really don't have the money to do it they just don't know that yet. I'd like to know what folks are figuring. If you're using a 2% nominal inflation rate then yeah, the math probably works since things double in cost about every 30-35 years. However, if you figure 4% (a value that seems far more realistic to me given the state of the world and US economies) then you're looking at stuff doubling in cost every 15-18 years. That means if you're planning on a 30-40 years of retirement then near the end of your life you'd better be prepared to pay 2.5 - 3 times what things cost today.

Great video. Thank you for sharing! I’m 49 and planning to retire about the same time in 4-5 years and have some complex medical conditions and have begun researching this stuff. Appreciate the insights very much!!!!

I am lucky. I retired at 55 and I am a veteran. I have free VA healthcare and dental and my wife has Champva.

Thanks , now learned about the farm bureau option. Another thing to at least check on even with it likely being a nonstarter. In Washington the farm bureau only provide insurance to farm business , not general public
individuals .

Short-term medical can only cover 3+1 months. How do you get longer term coverage? Thanks.

Thank you... and we need universal Healthcare 😢

Very informative video and I'm in the same situation researching my options. I plan to go with ACA to qualify for subsidies. Fortunately I have personal savings to bridge me until Medicare kicks in.

I've recently started building up my taxable brokerage account to allow me at least a few years under the ACA. I'm considering using Cobra the first year and pulling out more from my 401k than I need to help out with this. Not sure if I can last until 65 yet (staying under the 400% poverty level) but I have some Roth assets as well if additional expenses come up.

Good lord — this guy is only 54? Looks much older — can’t blame him for retiring.

🤣🤣🤣

If your state has a good medicaid program keep your income in the poverty level. No clawback cause you’re not on ACA.

Yay America! Good thing we don't have socialized health care. That would really suck to not have to figure out everything this guy talks about.

Damn that must have been a hardcore job because you don’t look 54.

Thank you for this…so tired of the endless channels who regurgitate the same options we all already know with no answers for most people. This is why I avoid financial advisors who have to focus on the bell curve and that’s all they know.

Another option I rarely see being mentioned is living outside the country for a few years and getting international healthcare which can be 1/4 of an American health care plan. This is a great option as many retirees like to use their early retirement to see the world anyway. And as someone who has lived overseas…let me assure you that these days, doctors are billion times better outside the US.

I don't understand why ppl worry about health insurance so much. I think it is mostly based on emotion, not facts. If you are rich, you do not really need insurance, or just buy ACA without worrying about the subsidy. If you are poor, buy ACA with the subsidy. Simple.

India private hospital is the best healthcare insurance it’s 90% cheaper than USA 🇺🇸

I'm about a year or two younger than you and I'm in my 3rd year of being on an ACA plan. Here's what I've learned. There is NO ACA plan that will match ANYTHING you had with a former employer. ALL of the plans have higher deductibles (in the $4000 to $5000 range) and max out-of-pockets (around $10,000). (Note: those numbers are for a single person). For comparison, the highest deductible I had while working was $1700 with a max out-of-pocket of around twice that. The monthly cost for my first two years on ACA plans was around $250 which was reasonable. This year, it's more than twice that and that includes the subsidy. Note: I've been able to increase my income thru investments during the past 3 years so the value of my subsidy has been going down. I'm seriously considering going to a non-subsidy plan next year so I don't have to cap my income. The only good news is that I now have an ACA plan that qualifies for HSA contributions which lowers my taxable income and provides tax-free money to cover the deductibles.

ACA healthcare is not even a legitimate option anymore. Did you even see the price increases this year vs previous? What used to be $900 before discount is now over $2000. I am paying almost $1100 based on reported current income. How in the hell is this affordable. And for reference, I am also 54.

Unfortunately, insurance covers less and less as time goes on.

Millions of people are dropping out of the ACA because sub of the loss of subsidies. That means a smaller group being covered by the same insurance pool. It also means that your insurance rates are likely to go up even more, while covering less.

This isn't unique to retired folks, it's affecting everyone. However, the uncertainty and risk could have a bigger effect on early retirees.

My question is are these credible health insurance coverage to be acceptable when you start Medicare at age 65? If not then there maybe some issues.