I had about 20k in cash when I retired. So until about 6 months ago the only taxable income I had was dividends but those were qualified dividends so they arent taxed. I moved from small town Iowa after I retired to a Cleveland suburb. After I moved here Ohio changed their tax rates and now the first 22k is taxed at $0. Plus their is a $2,350 deduction so you can make 25k and not pay any state income tax. I had no idea Ohio was going to do that. I am planning to move to east Tennessee eventually.
I have been getting about 9k a year in dividends(plus I had cash to live on for 3 years) and so I have been converting 15k a year to a Roth IRA. But I have a longterm capital gains loss of 3k that I can carryover every year(currently at 84k in longterm loss carryover). Anyway my total income for ACA ends up being 21k. You can make 25k a year and get a bronze plan for $0 premium. The maxium out of pocket is 8k for my bronze plan. In 2019 I had an unexpected hernia. I travelled 366 miles down to DC and had surgery done for 1/3 of what it would have cost me here. I drove home the next morning leaving at 5:15AM after waking up from surgery the day before at 4PM. I never took any pain medication at any time in the weeks after surgery(I had it but didnt need it). The total cost I believe ended up costing me right around $2500 including motel and about $80 in tolls. My total spending in 2019 for everything in life was $15,600. It was under 13k in 2018. I havent figured up 2020 yet but it will be under 14k.
So with my 3k longterm carryover loss I will be able to continue converting about $15,500 a year to a Roth without having to pay taxes to anyone and keeping my bronze plan with a $0 premium. Only 22.5% of my money is in tIRAs.
Hope the above isnt overly confusing.