18 months with no clear insurance plan

[OHjosh]

Come March 2018, my COBRA runs out and then I need 18 months to get to Medicare. I know it is still early but I can't count on ACA being there.

(In my plans, I think I will need 1K per month for that in terms of premium. I am in good health so I will probably do an HSA bronze plan. I pay $479 for excellent coverage now-- the whole insurance situation sucks!)

Let's say there is no ACA or it is way more expensive than i budgeted. Are there other options people know about that I might access? Thanks for the help.

 

[MBSC]

1) A j*b with health insurance.
2) Move to a state with ACA plans.
3) Health Care Sharing Ministries. Due diligence is required.
4) If you are still in good health at that time, a non-compliant Short-Term Medical (STM) plan but the following is required reading as part of your STM due diligence. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...directive-renews-preexisting-conditions-fight

 

[Senator]

Increase your income with a part time gig. Do something as a self-employed person so You at least get more tax write-offs for the income.

Healthcare is/was a known quantity. ACA will still be around, but will be expensive.

[mod edit] Get used to it.

 

[Aerides]

You only need 18 months after March? You can count on it being there at very least thru the end of 2018. Then you only need 9 months, but I think there's a better than 90% chance ACA will be here to renew at the end of next year. Just plan on it being another 25% increase (which for a short term thing you can at least plan safely).

 

[Rianne]

We are 5 years out before Medicare kicks in. We're figured bite the bullet for 5 yrs. DH consulting income $50K which makes our HI much cheaper in 2018 than 2017. Before the ACA HI numbers were posted, the beginning of October, we just figured as guesstimate, 24K worse case scenario, per year. That's $18K more than we're paying for 2017 HI.

I started reading the articles from Kaiser and NYT, that the removal of Insurance subsidies would actually be better for low income people like us. Sort of a seesaw effect that was not considered, but turned out to be beneficial for us. So, for 2018 at least, we are in a much better position to save for HI increase in 2019-2023. But what will happen to Medicare? It's all up in the air.

 

[GTFan]

You only need 18 months after March? You can count on it being there at very least thru the end of 2018. Then you only need 9 months, but I think there's a better than 90% chance ACA will be here to renew at the end of next year. Just plan on it being another 25% increase (which for a short term thing you can at least plan safely).

Yes, exactly. ACA will be around until end of 2018 at least, then you can get short-term insurance to cover the 9 months left if there are no exchange insurers left in your market in 2019. One of the new exec orders reverses the Obama short-term policy limit (it's 90 days now I think) so folks can get up to 11-month policies, but this won't be implemented until next year.

But I don't see the ACA going away in 2019 given current history. Whether there will be any insurers left in some markets is the big unknown.

 

[pb4uski]

+2... OP is fretting too much. ACA will definitely be there for all of 2018 and most likely for 2019 as well.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

3 choices not listed above: 1) my state, not OH, has HI programs for people that just don't fit. Might be worth checking out. 2) I am sure that your property and casualty broker can find you coverage. 3) You did not list any other family members. If there are other family members, please google "36 month cobra".