Temporary ACA for a few Months

[PatrickA5]

DW will be retiring next month and going on Medicare. I'm not eligible for Medicare until July, so I will need a few months of medical coverage.

My options are COBRA from her insurance. I "think" I can get single coverage (not including DW), but don't know the rates yet. I imagine it will be at least $1,000 per month. It's possible that her company will pay for 3 months of COBRA leaving me only a month or two of coverage gap.

Or, going through ACA. At this point, I can manipulate MAGI a little bit for 2023, but with her severance and my SS we'll be somewhere in the $60K/$75K range for 2023.

My questions are:

How big of a hassle is it to start/stop ACA? Can I sign up for a specific time period? Is it easy to cancel come July when I start up on Medicare?

 

[PatrickA5]

You have another option, (non ACA) short term health insurance. We had the exact same situation, getting coverage for DW after she retired for the 6 months before she was eligible for Medicare. We found a very competitive policy through UnitedHealthcare, much less than COBRA or ACA, but with decent coverage. All we wanted was coverage for a huge medical event, not routine stuff, so we opted for very high deductibles. She also made sure she attended to any known issues or preventive visits before her Corp HC lapsed. Evidently health insurance premiums aren't that bad when the provider only has to cover you for a short fixed period.

https://shop.uhone.com/en/quote/census/shortterm?leadsourcename=UHC_Website_Shop

Interesting, thanks for the link. I notice these are all for 6 months. Do you know if you can get something like this for just a month or two?

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

You have another option, (non ACA) short term health insurance. We had the exact same situation, getting coverage for DW after she retired for the 6 months before she was eligible for Medicare. We found a very competitive policy through UnitedHealthcare, much less than COBRA or ACA, but with decent coverage. All we wanted was coverage for a huge medical event, not routine stuff, so we opted for very high deductibles. She also made sure she attended to any known issues or preventive visits before her Corp HC lapsed. Evidently health insurance premiums aren't that bad when the provider only has to cover you for a short fixed period.

https://shop.uhone.com/en/quote/census/shortterm?leadsourcename=UHC_Website_Shop

Thanks for posting this.

For fun I ran my son as I will likely be moving to Medicare after my spring term ends. In NY, UHC kicks the request to a third party, ehealthinsurance.com, and the lowest price policy (catastrophic with a $9100 deductible) is $307/month. The cheapest "Gold" level plan is $800+/month. If I switch the state to PA, $80.72 for a 12k deductible catastrophic plan and it also includes a dental plan. In PA with a 2k deductible and 100/0 ($0 copay on covered after deductible) is $159.70.

Just more reasons to leave NY.

 

[PatrickA5]

The brochure says "from 1 month to just under 12 months."

https://www.uhone.com/api/supplysystem/?FileName=46995E-G202211.pdf

Perfect. I'll keep it in mind.

I upped DW 401K contribution way up this morning to try and manage MAGI. We could also do a deductible IRA contribution. I don't think we'll have problems if looking at ACA plans and it appear both the UHC you found above and ACA premiums are both well below COBRA.

 

[PatrickA5]

The brochure says "from 1 month to just under 12 months."

https://www.uhone.com/api/supplysystem/?FileName=46995E-G202211.pdf

Ooops. Looks like this short term insurance has medical underwriting and won't cover any preexisting conditions. That probably rules me out.

 

[jim584672]

Report a low income month and it will lock you in Medicaid for 1 year (NY has 12 month coverage before a redetermination). ACA is calendar year, Medicaid is monthly based income.

The public health emergency is still on so once you have it stays no matter what the income. That will be phasing out this year.

 

[jim584672]

Thanks for posting this.

For fun I ran my son as I will likely be moving to Medicare after my spring term ends. In NY, UHC kicks the request to a third party, ehealthinsurance.com, and the lowest price policy (catastrophic with a $9100 deductible) is $307/month. The cheapest "Gold" level plan is $800+/month. If I switch the state to PA, $80.72 for a 12k deductible catastrophic plan and it also includes a dental plan. In PA with a 2k deductible and 100/0 ($0 copay on covered after deductible) is $159.70.

Just more reasons to leave NY.

NY has no age rating so young people pay a ton, but old people get a break.

He could get free coverage with the Essential Plan of Medicaid. EP goes up to 200% FPL.

https://info.nystateofhealth.ny.gov...Essential Plan At a Glance Card - English.pdf

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

NY has no age rating so young people pay a ton, but old people get a break.

He could get free coverage with the Essential Plan of Medicaid. EP goes up to 200% FPL.

https://info.nystateofhealth.ny.gov...Essential Plan At a Glance Card - English.pdf

Thanks for the link, I will investigate. Yes, I was aware that NY is community rated. When I explain that means he (a healthy 20 year old) will have to pay the same as an old geezer with health conditions (like me), I get a WTF that is crazy kind of look.