Your Health Care Costs -

[Dtail]

The kids dental can get real expensive with braces, etc.
We paid $9,600 last year for 59/58 y.o. and that's with the DGF having around 50 doctor visits over the year.
I manage my MAGI heavily, so helps greatly, but with your young ages, who knows what will be the situation.
Perhaps wait until the end of 2020.

[WestUniversity]

We have retirement health benefits through my wife’s former employer. It’s about $8K/year. So far we are pleased with it. Not as good as my former MegaCorp benefits, but close enough...

[Unpaintedhuffhines]

Healthcare and the surrounding uncertainty is the #1 reason I'm still working. The benefits I have at mega corp are simply ridiculous. If I had guaranteed insurance at roughly medicare rates, I'd jump ship tomorrow. I might jump ship anyway - it's only about 7 years I'd have to worry about.

[mamadogmamacat]

Looks like you are assuming about 27K per year alltogether

seems a bit low for four, especially considering dental and vision as others have mentioned.

perhaps you should calculate another number consisting of: your premiums, what the plan's max out of pocket $ number is plus your $350 for prescriptions which i assume are not included in the out of pocket max plus something realistic for dental and vision care

compare that to the 27k. i expect it will be more

then a third number using what you can find for a non ACA plan, just in case ACA goes away or is changed

Take the biggest of the three numbers into account for your calculations as to when retirement is possible

[Carpediem]

I would have 4 years to cover with COBRA and ACA. This thread is making me nervous. I had planned to use some of the cash bucket for 2 of the years in order to get subsidies. Maybe I should plan on 18 mos of COBRA (approx $1100/mth), 2 years of ACA subsidies ($0/mth), and 1 year full cost ACA (approx $1500/mth. (The reason for no subsidies the last year is not to drain the entire cash bucket.)

[ownyourfuture]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markola This is one depressing thread. How the United States ended up with such a warped health care non-system is one of our nation’s greatest failures.

AAA+++

[Markola]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jj Unsubsidized private HDHP costs just under $20,000 per year for two adults, 59, 64 and one dependent. I hope to contain healthcare (medical, dental, vision) costs to <$30,000/year. In 2018, with minor surgery and some substantial dental work we reached $38,500. The excess came out of the vacation budget. Do not underestimate how much insurance premiums increase from your 40s to your 50s and beyond. Going on Medicare will reduce these costs somewhat.

It sounds like you’ve estimated Medicare benefits. Curious if you’d define “somewhat”? I was under the impression Medicare was a very substantial savings. Maybe your one dependent continues to drive up costs even after Medicare?

[mamadogmamacat]

to get back to OP's original question
as a single female in late fifties and 3 yrs into ER with a non ACA expensive mega corp plan my total health care expenses for each yr were 8600, 9000, and 9800 consisting of mostly premiums it would have been twice that amount if i had gotten sick enough to hit the OOP max but fortunately I've been so far relatively healthy

so my personal heath care inflation rate in retirement has been between 5% and 9% per yr so far. So inflation in health care has been far greater than for other expenses. yet another consideration for you. Sorry to be such a downer

[SumDay]

Quote:

It sounds like you’ve estimated Medicare benefits. Curious if you’d define “somewhat”? I was under the impression Medicare was a very substantial savings. Maybe your one dependent continues to drive up costs even after Medicare?

DH has been on Medicare for 11 months, so I'll give our take. Monthly, Part B is $135.50, Supplement G (which puts the Medicare $185 deductible on you) is $146 and his Part D Silver Scripts is $30. We have some co-pays with most prescriptions which haven't been ridiculous so far, and other than that, everything is pretty much paid 100%. I'm 62 and counting the days until I'm on it. My HDHCP Retiree Medical is $6k a year, so my costs plus his minimal Medicare premiums make MEDICAL our biggest expense.

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Health Care Costs in Switzerland for me and my spouse:

Health Insurance: 17,040 Swiss Francs annually (about same in $USD right now). This is the mandatory standard insurance that everyone has plus an optional supplemental plan, which pays for some addtional services, alternative treatments, etc. About 30% of Swiss residents get the supplemental. The basic plan is equivalent to the old gold standard Blue Cross/Blue Shield, 20 years ago or so.

There are dozens of nonprofit companies which do the insuring, under strict overview by the Swiss government. It's very rare for an employer to pay your insurance bill; virtually everyone pays for it themselves and its portable from job to job, and then to retirement. You have the option to switch health insurers every November without any hassle. The government (cantonal) will help people whose income is low to pay for their health insurance via subsidies, so that nobody ever goes without proper health care. There is no political jerrymandering with health insurance, which is a breath of fresh air. However, people have complained about rising premium costs. Last three years our went up 1%, 3%, and 3.5%. So, I'm not complaining. After our rental costs and taxes (Swiss plus US), health care is our largest expenditure. I retired at 59 with no worries about health care in the equation.


Prescription Drugs: Included in health insurance.
Hospitalization: Included in health insurance (but with annual deductibles).
Co-Pays: 10% up to max of 700 francs annually each.
We budget for the max co-pays and hospital deductibles each year.

US Medicare deduction from Social Security: $135.50 each, monthly, to avoid the premium increase penalty if we ever decide to return to the US.

There are no limits on lifetime payout, no issues with pre-existing illnesses, no pre-approval of what your doctor determines is best treatment. And the health insurer, in our case, has always just paid the bills (we use their mobile phone app to scan and submit the medical invoices we receive, in cases where the medical provider doesn't just bill the insurer directly). This is so different from our days in the US, when my wife spent upwards of 5 hours a week dealing with miscoded treatments, balking insurers, pre-approvals, incorrect bills, promised callbacks that never came, and so on. Premiums can increase (by law) only due to higher costs overall and the experience of your age cohort (e.g., after 65, there is a bump up...about 7% for us). And hte cantonal government negotiates rate increases to protect its citizens. There are no increases due to our own use of medical care. Acupuncture, holistic therapies, and spa treatments are also covered by the supplemental insurance.

Hope this comparison is useful in some way.

-BB

[scrabbler1]

I pay about $650 per month, unsubsidized, for a Silver ACA plan. I pay another $100 a month for OOP costs such as copays and dental. One person.

[MarieIG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman Yea, Our niece was covered by the U.K. National Health System when she came down with uterine cancer. Instead of quick surgery, they had a conservative protocol of a couple rounds of chemo and radiation over a period of a year. We buried her in Memphis 4 years ago this month--after a 18 month fight. The worst part is that there are plenty of healthcare professionals in this world that know how to solve our healthcare problems. Let me just say politics just get in the way.

https://www.formosapost.com/pros-and...nited-kingdom/

That is tragic.

I found this pro and con article about the health system. Interesting, Mick Jagger had his heart surgery here, not there.

[Another Reader]

Since going on Medicare last December, my costs have been $0.00. Part B, the Part D plan, co-pays and the supplement are paid by the retirement system. The supplement, the Part D plan, and the co-pays are paid through an HRA. Part B is reimbursed through a fund that is set up to do this but could run out of money at some point. Not guaranteed for life.

At some point I will have to pick up IRMAA. Looks like 2020. I expect to pick up more of the costs as premiums increase faster than the HRA. Right now, I'm making up for 12 years of the overpriced HMO.

[jj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markola It sounds like you’ve estimated Medicare benefits. Curious if you’d define “somewhat”? I was under the impression Medicare was a very substantial savings. Maybe your one dependent continues to drive up costs even after Medicare?

I estimate that once my spouse is on Medicare our annual premiums will drop from about $20k/year to maybe $15k. The oop max per year will be lower with a medigap plan. This will at least stop our healthcare going up at such a fast rate as the past few years. My private HI premium will get higher and higher and our dependent's premium will stay around $270/month. Dental and vision carry on as normal.

Healthcare will continue to be our largest single expense until I am on Medicare. Even after that, I see it being a major expense for us at around $15k/year, including co-pays, dental etc.

[Markola]

Thanks for sharing your numbers.

[bingybear]

Quote:
Originally Posted by MichealKnight View Post

*$1500 per month, health insurance

(Bronze Level ACA plan where I pay 40%.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB I think anyone considering early retirement should be aware of the unsubsidized price of health insurance and have a “Plan B” in case the subsidy goes away.

The use of subsidy is not relevant to the topic. The cost of health care to the OP is post subsidy.

I have not taken the subsidy option yet ( this is also off topic) Our health expenses have varied quite a bit in ER with the most being the cost of insurance (bronze HDHP) plus about 4k. most of this was dental crowns between both of us.

I expect in a couple years we will break the bank when I get my pacemaker changed out.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryan Barnfellow Health Care Costs in Switzerland for me and my spouse: Health Insurance: 17,040 Swiss Francs annually (about same in $USD right now). This is the mandatory standard insurance that everyone has plus an optional supplemental plan, which pays for some addtional services, alternative treatments, etc. About 30% of Swiss residents get the supplemental. The basic plan is equivalent to the old gold standard Blue Cross/Blue Shield, 20 years ago or so. There are dozens of nonprofit companies which do the insuring, under strict overview by the Swiss government. It's very rare for an employer to pay your insurance bill; virtually everyone pays for it themselves and its portable from job to job, and then to retirement. You have the option to switch health insurers every November without any hassle. The government (cantonal) will help people whose income is low to pay for their health insurance via subsidies, so that nobody ever goes without proper health care. There is no political jerrymandering with health insurance, which is a breath of fresh air. However, people have complained about rising premium costs. Last three years our went up 1%, 3%, and 3.5%. So, I'm not complaining. After our rental costs and taxes (Swiss plus US), health care is our largest expenditure. I retired at 59 with no worries about health care in the equation. Prescription Drugs: Included in health insurance. Hospitalization: Included in health insurance (but with annual deductibles). Co-Pays: 10% up to max of 700 francs annually each. We budget for the max co-pays and hospital deductibles each year. US Medicare deduction from Social Security: $135.50 each, monthly, to avoid the premium increase penalty if we ever decide to return to the US. There are no limits on lifetime payout, no issues with pre-existing illnesses, no pre-approval of what your doctor determines is best treatment. And the health insurer, in our case, has always just paid the bills (we use their mobile phone app to scan and submit the medical invoices we receive, in cases where the medical provider doesn't just bill the insurer directly). This is so different from our days in the US, when my wife spent upwards of 5 hours a week dealing with miscoded treatments, balking insurers, pre-approvals, incorrect bills, promised callbacks that never came, and so on. Premiums can increase (by law) only due to higher costs overall and the experience of your age cohort (e.g., after 65, there is a bump up...about 7% for us). And hte cantonal government negotiates rate increases to protect its citizens. There are no increases due to our own use of medical care. Acupuncture, holistic therapies, and spa treatments are also covered by the supplemental insurance. Hope this comparison is useful in some way. -BB

I'm surprised at the cost of your insurance. One tends to think that HC in Europe it cheaper and in some cases almost free. The insurance company comment is interesting. My DH had a 200K plus surgery and hospital stay and we never had to make one phone call with a billing problem. We never paid one penny more then his deductible. It was hassle free.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bingybear Quote: Originally Posted by MichealKnight View Post *$1500 per month, health insurance (Bronze Level ACA plan where I pay 40%.) The use of subsidy is not relevant to the topic. The cost of health care to the OP is post subsidy. I have not taken the subsidy option yet ( this is also off topic) Our health expenses have varied quite a bit in ER with the most being the cost of insurance (bronze HDHP) plus about 4k. most of this was dental crowns between both of us. I expect in a couple years we will break the bank when I get my pacemaker changed out.

You can always upgrade your plan as your switch out get closer...

[bingybear]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan You can always upgrade your plan as your switch out get closer...

That is the plan if I can determine the correct year. But the gains are not that much. To lower the deductible you pay a good % more. IIRC I'd pay $1500 to drop the deductible $3k.Worth doing if I pick the right year. A wash if not. There are multiple levels to drop deductible.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bingybear That is the plan if I can determine the correct year. But the gains are not that much. To lower the deductible you pay a good % more. IIRC I'd pay $1500 to drop the deductible $3k.Worth doing if I pick the right year. A wash if not. There are multiple levels to drop deductible.

That's unless you can control income to hit cost share on the OOP and deductible..