- Joined
- Sep 10, 2006
- Messages
- 4,092
I've been getting great advice on my thread asking about budgeting for dental costs. I have similar healthcare budgeting questions, so starting a new thread for that.
Here is what I wrote in my other thread:
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What do you all think of budgeting for health care and dental expenses together - perhaps using a built-up HSA for the healthcare max out of pocket and large unpredictable dental expenses part?
Here's what I am thinking.
Budget yearly for:
- dental cleanings and at least one crown
- healthcare premiums
- fully funding HSA every year to keep a "bucket" of money for large dental expenses and deductible/max OOP on healthcare plan
We currently have $16,500 in our HSA. Still need to put in 2014 and 2015 contributions, so that will add $13,300 for a total of $29,800 in our HSA by Jan 2016 - our date for when we hope hubby will semi-retire.
If I budget for funding the HSA every year (~$6650 as of now) that will keep our yearly budget at a very manageable number for our portfolio to have 100% success according to FIREcalc.
If I budget for funding max OOP for healthcare (at worst $12K if hubby makes too much money in semi-retirement and we can't get a subsidy) plus worst-case scenario for large dental expenses every year (? $10K), this makes our overall yearly budget very high - and would fail according to FIREcalc.
It doesn't seem realistic to expect we will have worst case scenarios for both medical and dental for every single year of our retirement for ~ 40 years. Does it make sense to keep a "bucket" of $ in your HSA to handle the worst case scenarios, assuming you are going to continually fund it every year?
Having a hard time wrapping my head around this. I want to plan for worst case scenario given my health history (breast cancer). At the same time, it seems like if I do that, we will have to wait many more years to have that much in our portfolio. And what if one of us croaks by the time we build up that much money? My sense of urgency to retire and enjoy life more before something happens to one of us is heightened since my diagnosis (BTW, clear bill of health for now - 3 years out). But that fear of recurrence and early death is always lingering there, and makes me want to make our retirement happen soon rather than later...
Here is what I wrote in my other thread:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What do you all think of budgeting for health care and dental expenses together - perhaps using a built-up HSA for the healthcare max out of pocket and large unpredictable dental expenses part?
Here's what I am thinking.
Budget yearly for:
- dental cleanings and at least one crown
- healthcare premiums
- fully funding HSA every year to keep a "bucket" of money for large dental expenses and deductible/max OOP on healthcare plan
We currently have $16,500 in our HSA. Still need to put in 2014 and 2015 contributions, so that will add $13,300 for a total of $29,800 in our HSA by Jan 2016 - our date for when we hope hubby will semi-retire.
If I budget for funding the HSA every year (~$6650 as of now) that will keep our yearly budget at a very manageable number for our portfolio to have 100% success according to FIREcalc.
If I budget for funding max OOP for healthcare (at worst $12K if hubby makes too much money in semi-retirement and we can't get a subsidy) plus worst-case scenario for large dental expenses every year (? $10K), this makes our overall yearly budget very high - and would fail according to FIREcalc.
It doesn't seem realistic to expect we will have worst case scenarios for both medical and dental for every single year of our retirement for ~ 40 years. Does it make sense to keep a "bucket" of $ in your HSA to handle the worst case scenarios, assuming you are going to continually fund it every year?
Having a hard time wrapping my head around this. I want to plan for worst case scenario given my health history (breast cancer). At the same time, it seems like if I do that, we will have to wait many more years to have that much in our portfolio. And what if one of us croaks by the time we build up that much money? My sense of urgency to retire and enjoy life more before something happens to one of us is heightened since my diagnosis (BTW, clear bill of health for now - 3 years out). But that fear of recurrence and early death is always lingering there, and makes me want to make our retirement happen soon rather than later...