. OK, what a dummy..I miscalculated something big time.
For some reason when projecting my income for 2016, I didn't count what I've earned YTD at the bank. I just was figuring out my income from my last day of work forward through year's end. This would include severance and the unemployment benefits and whatever freelance/contract work I may find.
But that all was incorrect since for purposes of seeing if you're eligible for a subsidy on the healthcare exchange, you have to figure total income for the year, because that's what will be showing up on my tax return when I file and that's what will be used to determine whether or not I'm eligible for any subsidy.
So I already earned a gross of $43,215 and I have 2 more paychecks to go in July. Add in the 8 weeks severance totally $12,723 plus unemployment benefits for October through December and I'm already up to $60,000, which clearly means I get no subsidy.
So now looking at the healthcare exchange is much scarier. Most of the silver plans are in the $700 to $800 a month range, and the only one that has a $500 deductible like my current plan costs $745 a month. All the other plans have annual deductibles of $2900 or more.
I may as well stick with my employer's plan at $513 a month. Now it seems like a no-brainer.
I do only routine and preventive office visits except for my MS meds and thru the drug maker's financial assistance program the copays are 100% covered up to a max of $12,000 a year, so I don't have to worry about that.
And sticking with my current plan would be SO much easier and a lot less red tape than switching to a state-managed program.
Bottom Line: My severance will carry me through August and September. I'll try to save as much as I possibly can during that time.
I also plan to do the Safeco Insurance gadget on my car that measures how safe a driver I am (fast starts, sudden stops, and time of day) and this could save me up to 25% of my car insurance.
Unemployment benefits will kick in October and continue through March 2017 (if needed). While health insurance costs will eat up 25% of my unemployment income, I will still have about $1400 a month left over (based on a gross of $1800 a month) so sticking to my austerity budget, I should only be a few hundred in the red each month.
Imagine how much harder this would be if I had a mortgage or rent to pay!
Ideally, I will find some kind of work within the 6 months, because after the unemployment runs out, my healthcare and other expenses will be a big pinch.
It occurred to me this is pretty much the scenario I'd be facing if I chose to do an early retirement in 3 years. I'd forgotten how expensive health insurance is without the good fortune of being on an employer's plan.
The only difference would be that I'd be 3 years closer to getting Medicare and have 3 years less living expenses to fund before getting on Social Security later in my 60s.
I was all wrong on the healthcare insurance prices
July 14th, 2016 at 09:32 pm
July 14th, 2016 at 10:39 pm 1468535970
July 14th, 2016 at 11:03 pm 1468537437
July 14th, 2016 at 11:26 pm 1468538776
The links you requested for the other bloggers' articles on ACA are http://rootofgood.com/2016/02/ and http://www.gocurrycracker.com/obamacare-optimization-early-retirement/
July 15th, 2016 at 01:40 am 1468546855
July 15th, 2016 at 01:57 pm 1468591063
July 15th, 2016 at 06:29 pm 1468607374
July 16th, 2016 at 10:11 pm 1468707109
July 17th, 2016 at 01:54 pm 1468763652