Obamacare - more incentive to early retire?

[ziggy29]

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fact-...nt-health-planBut that’s mostly because the law will give many people the opportunity to retire, stay at home with family or switch to part-time work, since they will be able to get health insurance more easily outside of their jobs."

Or even fulfill a long-standing dream of becoming an entrepreneur and unleashing your own ideas on the world. I have to wonder how much creativity has been stifled in decades past because of the golden handcuffs called Megacorp health insurance.

I'm strongly starting to look into some sort of part-time enterprise, starting around 2015 or 2016 most likely. By that time we'll know if the law survives mostly intact and if my wife's new career is doing what we both hope it will. That's when you'll likely hear the golden handcuffs unlock and release from my wrist.

 

[nun]

My situation is that I work for the Commonwealth of MA and at 55 I can retire and continue my current health plan until I reach Medicare age. That's a few years away, but with Romneycare retiring before I hit 55 is still possible as I'm guaranteed reasonable coverage. I have latent TB ( I fought off a TB infection at some point in the past, but I still have the bacteria in my system) and have had the 9 month antibiotic treatment for it, but if I lived outside MA I'd be worried that I'd be denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition.

 

[Snidely Whiplash]

I prefer to insure against catastrophic events, and cover routine expenses out of pocket. That would be a high deductible HSA plan of some sort. I was actually turned down for some of these on some rather dubious underwriting decisions when I first retired. I did finally find plans, without riders, for my family. The current law makes it very unlikely I'll have to go through that again.

Yes, you very likely will not have to go through that again. But it will be because the high deductible health plans (HDHP) / health savings account's (HSA) will no longer be available at a reasonable cost. You should google "PPACA HDHP HSA" and take particular note of how the new Minimum Loss Ratio rules will affect these policies.

EDIT: Rereading my post and I thought the tone was kind of harsh. My aggravation is coming through over this whole thing. I have had an HDHP / HSA for several years and it has been a great deal for me and my family. I have no doubt that Congress via PPACA will put an end to that for me.

 

[Mulligan]

Yes, you very likely will not have to go through that again. But it will be because the high deductible health plans (HDHP) / health savings account's (HSA) will no longer be available at a reasonable cost. You should google "PPACA HDHP HSA" and take particular note of how the new Minimum Loss Ratio rules will affect these policies.

EDIT: Rereading my post and I thought the tone was kind of harsh. My aggravation is coming through over this whole thing. I have had an HDHP / HSA for several years and it has been a great deal for me and my family. I have no doubt that Congress via PPACA will put an end to that for me.

It is not official yet, but I read some of the detailed government report and they were going to recommend that the amount you put into your HSA will not count as part of the necessary coverage ratio. However, if you have a grandfathered plan you will be able to continue as you always have. I know I am hopeful my plan will continue long after 2014 so I can keep my HDHP.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

.....I know I am hopeful my plan will continue long after 2014 so I can keep my HDHP.

me too!

 

[target2019]

Or even fulfill a long-standing dream of becoming an entrepreneur and unleashing your own ideas on the world. I have to wonder how much creativity has been stifled in decades past because of the golden handcuffs called Megacorp health insurance.

I'm strongly starting to look into some sort of part-time enterprise, starting around 2015 or 2016 most likely. By that time we'll know if the law survives mostly intact and if my wife's new career is doing what we both hope it will. That's when you'll likely hear the golden handcuffs unlock and release from my wrist.

Your comments are very insightful. I was self-employed for long time, and now 6 years for megacorp. Since wife has very good healthcare during that entire period, it made the entrepreneur-ship possible.

At this time companies are filling the work gap with overtime and part-time. At some point they will need to use other methods, like small-business you mention. If you can identify the need, then it is not too difficult to form a company that fills it. The bigger challenge, I feel, is in taking care of numerous record-keeping and compliance issues. I am not sure I would go back to that responsibility. If you think every agency has a hand in your pocket now, it is not true. There are many more agencies willing to meet up with you and shake hands.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Thanks for all the thoughtful posts!

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