Poll: Do you need ACA for either you or your spouse? For how long?

[Dtail]

DGF on Medicare now.
I need the ACA for 4 more years . As many know here, I am a big fan of the ACA plan and fully maximize the subsidies.

 

[simple girl]

DH needs it for 9 more years. I need it for 13 more.

If it goes away we are screwed. Either one of us gets a full-time job or we move to another country with decent healthcare.

 

[Livefree]

We've been on it for almost 3 years now. I will start Medicare in March, and the wife will stay with it for 3 more years (62)

 

[Midpack]

DW will come off COBRA later this year, 14 months from Medicare eligibility. We’ll look into ACA or a short term policy. I was on a short term UHC policy for 3 months to bridge to Medicare.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Personally do not seeing the plan going anywhere anytime soon.

Respectively, I think that is being somewhat short sighted. It would be gone already save for a single thumbs down. Also remember the courts are waiting till after November to bring the discussion of the legality of the ACA up in the supreme court. Either way there is not much we can do about it, as there are not any viable alternatives.

I think I just Hijacked my own thread... I just kicked myself as penance.

Bringing it back... Quick Tally of Votes. So far 67% of us need the ACA in one way or another, I wonder how this compares to the rest of the ER (Pre-Medicare) community.

 

[Ed B]

We just adopted our son. He is on an ACA plan now and will be until he has a job with better coverage. He is currently seven years old so it will be a long while.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

COBRA/private insurance since retirement in 2006, then ACA since it started up until Medicare in 2023.. No subsidies.

 

[Starsky]

The way things are going, ACA "May" not be available, or severely compromised in the coming years, what are your plans?

Proud to live in a state that I hear derisively called "Commie-fornia" all the time, I fully expect to retain the 'Covered California' plan until something better comes along or 2027 (Medicare eligibility) whichever occurs first. There are other states - like Hawaii and Vermont - that have had health care plans since before the ACA and will also likely continue regardless of what the federal govt. chooses to do.

Health care costs is a huge part of the retirement calculus, and I believe the ACA helped make it possible for a lot of us [with pre-existing conditions] to RE. (T.O.)

 

[Buckeye]

Luckily, I have access to excellent VA medical care. I would have needed 12 years without the VA.

 

[jollystomper]

I was able to do COBRA for 18 months after retirement, then go onto the Megacorp health plan with a retiree subsidy from Megacorp that made it much cheaper than the ACA. It also allows me to keep all of my same providers.

 

[FIREd]

Had I stayed in the US, I would have had to rely on ACA for 20 more years. I didn’t vote in the poll since I don’t need ACA any longer.

 

[Dtail]

Proud to live in a state that I hear derisively called "Commie-fornia" all the time, I fully expect to retain the 'Covered California' plan until something better comes along or 2027 (Medicare eligibility) whichever occurs first. There are other states - like Hawaii and Vermont - that have had health care plans since before the ACA and will also likely continue regardless of what the federal govt. chooses to do.

Health care costs is a huge part of the retirement calculus, and I believe the ACA helped make it possible for a lot of us [with pre-existing conditions] to RE. (T.O.)

Amen although live in FLA.

 

[Aerides]

We are not eligible for Medicare for 15 years, and are currently on the ACA. We don't "need" the ACA in its entirety, the only "need" part is the protection of existing conditions. Otherwise DH might not be insurable (his conditions aren't major - like sleep apnea - so will be provider-dependent, and did not materialize until after we ER'd).

If the ACA were completely abolished, no protection for existing conditions, we'd be in a tough spot, but as I have a small side-gig business I expect we'd find a way into small group plans. We're also in florida, where the coverage is pretty good. Of course, chances are we'd have to rethink some of our healthcare budget, but that's where having a small margin of flexibility comes in, which is needed anyway with an early retirement.

So while I think every 2 years the risks to the ACA ebb and flow, and counting on it to be there 100% for 15 years is silly, I don't know that I believe it would go back to pre-ACA law 100% either. I think removing protections would be kryptonite at the ballot box.

 

[LRDave]

Like others earlier in this thread, we made a bet on DW's retiree healthcare. We are paying the COBRA (painful) rate until August 1 this year and then move to the (reasonable) subsidized rate. She will be on retiree healthcare for 5 years (me 3 years) and it will then transition to a Medicare supplement. I hope it was the right bet.

This did (and will in the next 3 years) allow us to do some Roth conversions last year and use the dry powder we would've used to support ourselves (to stay under the MAGI threshold) to pay taxes.

 

[Born2Fish]

I answered “No” on the poll before I read your post.

I am not currently on ACA but hope to start using it next year. I will need it for 3 yrs and DW for 8 yrs.

 

[51notout]

Signed up for ACA plan today, starts in April.

I didn’t realize there would be a gap between last work day and ACA start date. I thought it would be next day coverage [emoji849].

10 years until Medicare so changes to Healthcare are more or less inevitable.

 

[Rianne]

DH/me on ACA since 2014 and will stay on until 2022. Both of us turn 65 in 2022 but I'm never sure when Medicare kicks in. Is it on your B-day or the first of the following year? If the later, we'll be on until Jan. 2023.

 

[pacergal]

Sorry, voted No before reading your first post.
I am covered until Medicare by paying for retiree insurance.

 

[candrew]

DH/me on ACA since 2014 and will stay on until 2022. Both of us turn 65 in 2022 but I'm never sure when Medicare kicks in. Is it on your B-day or the first of the following year? If the later, we'll be on until Jan. 2023.

https://www.medicare.gov/sign-up-change-plans/how-do-i-get-parts-a-b/when-will-my-coverage-start

 

[MichaelB]

Medicare begins on the 1st of the month you were born, as long as you apply a couple of months earlier.

DH/me on ACA since 2014 and will stay on until 2022. Both of us turn 65 in 2022 but I'm never sure when Medicare kicks in. Is it on your B-day or the first of the following year? If the later, we'll be on until Jan. 2023.

 

[BoodaGazelle]

When my COBRA ran out, at age 59, I had to learn about ACA and what it means, including subsidies, MAGI, etc. That was part of how I found this site, for which, thanks!

I will turn 65 in May 2021, and DW in Sept. 2022... We have managed to keep our costs low because we had enough money in non-retirement accounts to live on, and I am sure glad we did. It would have been a double blow to have to bring over (say) $48K from IRA, which would then (with taxable income up around $65K) let to quite a bit more in healthcare premiums.

I suspect that we feel the way many others here do. During 35 years of high earnings, we paid and paid and paid. Now we get a benefit.

 

[Tallman4123]

DW and I have been on an ACA plan since January 2019. I am about 2 years from Medicare eligibility but DW has 10 years until eligible. We are currently on an ACA Bronze plan with a $6k per person deductible but by managing our MAGI, we are receiving virtually a 100% subsidy (we pay only $11 per month towards a $1347 monthly premium). Once I hit 65 it will get much trickier to manage MAGI towards single-only coverage for her based on our current dividends and CGs. It may be that we can't manage it, so then we'll need to pay full boat for her coverage and I'll start paying closer attention to the TIRA to ROTH conversion threads.

 

[Joylush]

I use the VA. Partner uses ACA plan fully subsidized but high deductible.

 

[2017ish]

We each have individual, nonqualifying private plans purchased through Farm Bureau (no need to own a farm, luckily).

Historically, after COBRA ran out, we took the easy route and had ACA for 6 months--it was just barely more expensive than COBRA (~1300 a month for the two of us). Then, we were home long enough to sit down and do some research; quickly realized that we had been grossly overpaying for health insurance.

(TN residents; no real health issues/conditions; no subsidies available.)

 

[ziggy29]

It's rather telling of the times we live in that a FB friend of mine turned 65 today, and the dominant message (after 'happy birthday') was some variation of "congratulations on getting Medicare".