ACA effect on retirement rates

Status
Not open for further replies.
While I have retiree medical from mega-corp, ACA made the leap easier. If I lost my insurance, I knew I could find something. Pre-existing conditions for both DW and I. We're probably not "un-insurable", but likely higher risk.

Now, who knows with all the poor changes in the ACA and the recent election.
 
Well it is pretty difficult to FIRE without having some plan for Healthcare.

It is also pretty difficult for any individual to resolve taking care of Health Care even if that individual has lets say 5 million in investable assets.

Hence those discussions have inevitably political tone to it.

That is unless one is willing to relocate to another country where access to High Quality National Plan is readily available to immigrants. Such as Spain or Italy. Maybe that is a practical solution :). For example moving to Spain District of Madrid where there is no Spanish Wealth Tax.
 
Politics: the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area (Oxford Dictionary).

So, talking about public policies is talking about politics.

Anyway, Spain still has high unemployment. Young people have to leave the country to find work elsewhere. How do they pay for healthcare for immigrants? Interesting.
 
https://www.citizensadvice.org.es/f...ply-to-purchase-healthcare-convenio-especial/

Early retirees can access Public Healthcare via "Convenio Especial" I think after 1 year residence in Spain. At a cost of less then 70 Euros a month. ( To the healthcare that is regarded as one of top 5-10 in the world. And it does not have any 9000 dollar deductibles.)

Most of the EU countries do not provide access to National Healthcare unless you gain full residency which will take at least 5 years. And that rule applies even to EU citizens. That is unless EU citizen gets a job and then national coverage through employers.
 
Last edited:
eta2020 said:
Well it is pretty difficult to FIRE without having some plan for Healthcare.

It is also pretty difficult for any individual to resolve taking care of Health Care even if that individual has lets say 5 million in investable assets.

Hence those discussions have inevitably political tone to it.

That is unless one is willing to relocate to another country where access to High Quality National Plan is readily available to immigrants. Such as Spain or Italy. Maybe that is a practical solution :). For example moving to Spain District of Madrid where there is no Spanish Wealth Tax.
Click to expand...

I agree. I do know my mother lived in Mexico on a tourist visa. She had pretty good Mexican health insurance. That may be the place to go. A lot of Americans lived in Chapala where she lived.

I know Puerto Rico is also friendly to ex-pats, and federal taxes are very low. I would imagine the healthcare is great there too.
 
eta2020 said:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.es/f...ply-to-purchase-healthcare-convenio-especial/

Early retirees can access Public Healthcare via "Convenio Especial" I think after 1 year residence in Spain. At a cost of less then 70 Euros a month. ( To the healthcare that is regarded as one of top 5-10 in the world. And it does not have any 9000 dollar deductibles.)

Most of the EU countries do not provide access to National Healthcare unless you gain full residency which will take at least 5 years. And that rule applies even to EU citizens. That is unless EU citizen gets a job and then national coverage through employers.
Click to expand...

This means one or both of the following two things:

1) Spaniards are very generous, and willing to subsidize healthcare for immigrants even in the time of economic hardships for themselves,

2) They have figured out a way to make their healthcare costs so low that it does not matter.

If 2), the world should learn from them. If 1), well, that is very admirable, but most people are selfish and cannot follow suit. Some will even say it is not right to subsidize newcomers who can afford to ER from their country and now want to get a free ride in a foreign country.
 
Last edited:
Well it really does not matter what it means as far as 1, 2 and 3 goes.

I am just saying that countries like Italy, Spain and Portugal offer high quality National Healthcare to people like US FIREd expats.

So certainly it is not bad option from FIRE date to age 65. :) I am trying to have practical discussion leaving politics out. It can be worst then spending 55-65 in Tuscany or Toledo.
 
Last edited:
Some years ago, I looked into spending a few retirement years in Malta. It was not for medical reasons, but to get a change in scenery, plus it is close to other Mediterranean destinations. The cost of living is also not bad.

I did not pursue it further, and now am too tired to do it. So, just going to stay put and complain about the high premium here on this forum.
 
Actually it also has very low tax rate and great healthcare.

But you can bike it all in 1-2 days. I would get crazy living on such a small island. But I tell you I am very seriously thinking about place like medievel Toledo Spain right outside of Madrid. And surely that thinking is to great extend driven by a Health Care.
 
Last edited:
NW-Bound said:
Nor can any of us as individuals.

I have said that it bothers the heck out of me that my county healthcare cost is so much higher than other counties. I want to know why people are sicker here, or perhaps they are just charged more than other places in the country. If they are really sicker, then bring in the CDC to study why we have an endemic of dreadful diseases.

Instead of pleading for more subsidy, we need to ask why we have to pay so much. Let's put our representatives and senators to work to find out.
Click to expand...

I have a theory about Arizona's troubles with the insurance companies for 2017 and why there is only one provider charging outlandish rates. I have followed what information I could on the AZ Department of Insurance website this whole year. I believe there were a number of health insurance companies that submitted rate increases (for 2017) early in the year of 2016. I also believe the DOI denied all of those increases as excessive (even though some were as low as 20%). Those insurance companies said bye-bye. And then there was only one left (Centene) and they came in with rate increases that were in excess of double the 2015 rates of some carriers. The DOI was forced to approve the only one left.

I can't prove any of this, so it's my opinion. But Arizona is still counting ballots from the election! Something just isn't right in this state.
 
My wife seems to think they are not going to throw 20 million people out on the street anytime soon and is not at all worried about health insurance costs. :rolleyes:

She said why stress out over something that may not end up being an issue.
 
Fermion said:
My wife seems to think they are not going to throw 20 million people out on the street anytime soon and is not at all worried about health insurance costs. :rolleyes:

She said why stress out over something that may not end up being an issue.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with her. Only worry about it when it is real.

We are worried about drug costs and we are on Medicare. Some of my wife's drugs are not on the Part D formulary (no subsidy). Her rescue inhaler alone is $324+ per month and that is the best price we can find. It's not all peaches and cream on Medicare either. She needs 9 separate meds and out out of pocket this year is near $5000 just for Part D. That does not include me. Then there is the Premium costs for Medicare and the Medigap policies (for each of us).

I'm not going to mention the doctors and medical PC's that are continuing to not accept Medicare patients where we live.
 
costs are much lower in countries like spain, italy. a family friend was in italy and fell breaking her arm. she paid $240us for er which included xrays, pain meds and cast. she was shocked. would be 3/K here i bet.

that is the reason for the rise in medical tourism.
 
i broke an arm a month ago. negotiated rate with the hospital was about 1500, no cast, just diagnosis plus xray, no meds. i paid a $500 er fee out of pocket. if i hadn't been over my 3K deductible, i would have had to pay the entire 1500.

this was not a top tier hospital - just a small community hospital. crazy price difference.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

T
How to approach FIRE projections - llc owner, ACA ins & IDR student loans?
Replies
0
Views
218
tpac
T
M
Turbotax users on ACA with dependent income
Replies
7
Views
476
Dtail
D
P
Income - ACA -SS- College questions
Replies
13
Views
865
PlayinwithFIRE
P
J
ACA question husband working wife retired
Replies
10
Views
785
Dtail
D
D
A couple ACA and HSA Questions
Replies
4
Views
910
cathy63
C

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom