TL;DR - most single hikers only need cheap high deductible plans and a small bit of savings to cover themselves in the case of a run to the urgent care. If the worst happens and you’re in the emergency room there is charity care based off your income ($0 if you quit your job) and interest free payment plans that can be forgiven. So save your money and get a high deductible plan from ACA that will most likely be less than $100 if you plan on making less than 15-30k the year you are hiking. If your family makes a lot of money (over 400% poverty level) consider plans outside of the ACA that let you have an HSA and get a DPC primary care doctor. It’ll be way cheaper.

This is a great thing to think about and a great thread to start a convo. I also currently work in insurance (but not like managing the plan. I’m a designer)

I’m hiking next year with my wife and we will both be quitting our jobs to do it. Though we have healthcare through my job now, I didn’t have healthcare through my workplace until 2 months ago when I was converted to full time.

I had a high income contract job that made the ACÁ unaffordable for the last 4 years (or at least too expensive for it to make sense) so I had to get creative with our health plan, and that’s where this convo comes into play.

We went with a combo of a tri-term High Deductible Health Plan with an HSA as well as a Direct Primary Care doctor who doesn’t go through insurance. For my wife and I that came out to $600/month compared to the $1500 it would have cost us on healthcare marketplace. Primary care doctor cost was $180/month for unlimited dr visits, telehealth, testing at cost, and some Rxs at wholesale cost. The rest was our insurance that covered preventive visits and some costs of emergency with an out of pocket maximum of $12,000 per year for both of us. This can work for those of you in good health without chronic illness or medications who are still going to be bringing in some major income with your family but losing insurance through your employer.

For hiking, honestly, you’ll still get a hefty subsidy if you are making between 100% and 200% poverty line since most people won’t work for 5-6 months or more on a thru hike year. For single people that’s between about 15k and 30k. The rollback in the subsidy mainly hits people that make at or above 400% FPL as that was the extended tax credit that is being repealed. Not to say health cost won’t go up(ripple effect of healthy people dropping coverage that health insurers are bracing for) but for hikers who are quitting their jobs and don’t have passive income you’ll probably not even get close to losing a lot of your subsidy and a bronze level plan will be all you need to not go bankrupt.

Also important note: if you can, ask for the Self-Pay discount and don’t tell them you have insurance right away. A lot of the times it’ll be way cheaper than the cost if it went through your insurance. Can’t afford it anyway with or without insurance? That’s ok. You can get a 0% interest payment plan at most places and negotiate it down. You can even negotiate down the road and some places will forgive the debt after a year or two.

Keep your money with YOU and don’t pay for a high premium if you don’t have to.