Will the new healthcare law make it easier for me to retire early?

[Nords]

I searched for a more recent thread than this one-- did I miss the announcement?

Bank of Hawaii, Pamcah-UA Local 675 latest to get funding for early retirees - Pacific Business News (Honolulu)

The Early Retirees Reinsurance Program is supplying $5 billion in financial assistance to approved employers to help them maintain health care coverage for early retirees not yet eligible for Medicare.

Nearly 1,000 organizations, businesses and institutions, including Bank of Hawaii and Pamcah-UA Local 675 Health & Welfare Fund, were accepted into the program in this latest round and will start receiving reimbursements for medical claims this fall, according to the statement.

The program receives applications from all 50 states and the District of Columbia; almost 2,000 applicants, including the Hawaii Medical Service Association and The Queen’s Health System, were accepted in the first round last August. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more applications are reviewed every day.

 

[Htown Harry]

I searched for a more recent thread than this one-- did I miss the announcement?

I sure missed it. Seems as though your plan sponsor has to jump on the bandwagon and apply (like the Hawaii union did) for an individual to be eligible. And there are some restrictions:

Who can be an Early Retiree?

ANSWER: Generally, the term early retiree will apply to the early retiree (Subscriber) and an enrolled spouse, surviving spouse and/or dependent(s) (Members). When determining ERRP eligibility, all of the following must be true for the Subscriber before the Subscriber, or associated Member(s), can be considered for participation in ERRP. The Subscriber must be:

• • Age 55 and older,
  • Enrolled for health benefits in the certified employment-based plan identified on the application,
  • Not eligible for coverage under Medicare, (which the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services will verify upon receiving a sponsor's Early Retiree List), and
  • Not an active employee of the Plan Sponsor identified on the application (in accordance with the rules of the plan).

For more detailed information about who can be an early retiree, please see the early retiree-related Common Questions on the ERRP Public Website at Common Questions - Early Retirees | Early Retiree Reinsurance Program.

 

[Retire2013]

For various reasons already cited by other posters in this thread, I have decided that I will retire in 2014. Hence, my Username: Retire2014. I am healthy and have no pre-existing condition but I still have 15 between now and medicare so I opt for the wait-until-2014 to see how the health care landscape pans out before going to HR to turn in my resignation. FYI, my older brother who ER, did not yet have Medicare, had some serious medical issues, he went to a developing country, paid out of pocket (minimal when compared to what it would have cost in the US) for top notch treatments, and has since completely "healed" from his illness. So with your portfolio, if any serious illness should befall you, you may consider doing the same. No worries.

 

[FUEGO]

I am healthy and have no pre-existing condition but I still have 15 between now and medicare so I opt for the wait-until-2014 to see how the health care landscape pans out before going to HR to turn in my resignation.

We have unofficially set Jan 1 2014 as our "earliest" FIRE date, and the date will roughly coincide with having a big enough portfolio to FIRE too (based on current projections). May stick it out a few more years to get an extra pair of belts and suspenders on the portfolio.

But the health insurance subsidy was a huge factor in our plans, no doubt about it. If it goes away or the current plan changes substantially, we'll have to work a little longer.

 

[explanade]

So you guys are optimistic about the new law by the time it is fully implemented in 2014?

There's some talk about repeal these days.

 

[ERD50]

So you guys are optimistic about the new law by the time it is fully implemented in 2014?

There's some talk about repeal these days.

Some of it has already been "repealed" - it's been all over the news and discussed here:

McDonald's, 29 other firms get health care coverage waivers - USATODAY.com

Yes, that is not "repeal" in the sense you meant - but in effect, it is the same thing.

-ERD50

 

[FUEGO]

So you guys are optimistic about the new law by the time it is fully implemented in 2014?

There's some talk about repeal these days.

Well, I won't be surprised by a repeal or massive change before 2014. But after 2014, after the free/cheap health insurance is enjoyed by the masses, I think it will be a hard sell and politically very unpopular to take it away. So I'll wait and see till 2014, and if free/cheap health insurance is available then, I'll take advantage of it. We may know what will happen after the Nov 2012 election with much greater certainty.

 

[Retire2013]

I will retire in 2014 even if health care reform is repealed. I still need to build up the portfolio some more so I just pick 2014 as a good date by which the portfolio should have reached what I need to have and to see what the health insurance landscape will look like as well.

 

[travelover]

So you guys are optimistic about the new law by the time it is fully implemented in 2014?

There's some talk about repeal these days.

It all depends on which way the political winds blow. If the public comes to like it, politicians that voted against it will run on a platform of expanding it. Kinda like those that opposed stimulus projects, then show up at the dedication to take credit for bringing money to their state.

 

[explanade]

Health care is very unpopular in this election. Stimulus too.

Yes they are hypocritically taking stimulus funds, writing letters on behalf of their states for stimulus money even after voting for it and continuing to say it's a bad idea.

But there's an effort to have state legislatures reject some aspects of health care, effectively preventing the establishment of exchanges for those who can't get coverage through their employers.

 

[ziggy29]

I will retire in 2014 even if health care reform is repealed. I still need to build up the portfolio some more so I just pick 2014 as a good date by which the portfolio should have reached what I need to have and to see what the health insurance landscape will look like as well.

If it gets repealed it would have to be in 2013, and I don't know many will accept having such an 11th hour repeal given that many will be making plans assuming it will go forward. There's no way the people who want to repeal some or all of it will have a 2/3 majority needed to override the current president's veto. So the earliest it could realistically happen is in 2013.

 

[samclem]

If it gets repealed it would have to be in 2013, and I don't know many will accept having such an 11th hour repeal given that many will be making plans assuming it will go forward.

After this election, those who makes plans assuming that the 2010 law will still go into effect as written have themselves to blame. Between the court challenges, the promises to defund portions of it, and the state laws being written to contravene portions of it, there's no reason to believe it will be around as written.

Of course, if some key elements go away (e.g. individual mandates for purchase of insurance) it's hard to see how the rest of it could be implemented.

Hopefully, whatever eventually replaces it will be passed with a sufficient legislative majority that we won't have to undo it after a subsequent election. That's how Medicare got passed--with a good bit of support across the spectrum. And, it stuck.

 

[M Paquette]

If it gets repealed it would have to be in 2013, and I don't know many will accept having such an 11th hour repeal given that many will be making plans assuming it will go forward. There's no way the people who want to repeal some or all of it will have a 2/3 majority needed to override the current president's veto. So the earliest it could realistically happen is in 2013.

I'm assuming a worst-case scenario for purposes of budgeting. That is, the current healthcare law will be modified to 1) drop the guaranteed-issue mandate (per the desires of certain campaign contributors), 2) drop the 'no canceling policies' requirement (gummint interference with Free Enterprise, dontchaknow), and 3) drop the requirement that all persons have coverage (per the demands of The Usual Suspects).

This results in DW and I being forced onto the state guaranteed-issue high priced plan, unless the Congresscritters manage to phrase the rollback of guaranteed-issue so that plans mandated by individual states are also cancelled. In that case, we'll be on the Emergency Room Free Care Plan.

So, I'm budgeting for Really Expensive Insurance for us for several years, while hoping that the Usual Suspects don't succeed in 'getting the gummint out of Medicare.' (We paid 300K into Medicare, and feel we should get something for our money. Oooooooh! A nasty sense of Entitlement! Hsssss!)

 

[foxfirev5]

Like everything else it's a moving target. I never anticipated I'd be second guessing early retirement. In about 6 months I'll be working for health insurance and taxes. Bank the rest and hope we can cover future health costs. It always comes back to the same issue when deciding to pull the trigger. Now with the talk about repealing the 2014 plan, retirement is questionable. Meanwhile it's about time to head to Key West and take a break.

 

[explanade]

You know, maybe it's better to move to another country.

I recall hearing that before Hong Kong was handed over to China, Canada was offering citizenship or some kind of permanent status to people from HK who had a million dollars.

Don't know if that meant they had to spend $1 million in Canada or just had the means that they could live in Canada without drawing on services or taking jobs from existing citizens.

Some countries in Europe offer visas to those who have retirement assets/income but not citizenship and no entry into their health care necessarily. But apparently you could live in these countries permanently so maybe there is a road to citizenship. I know that American descendants of some nationalities are offered dual citizenship.

If the political process remains broken there's little hope for long-term issues like medicare.