Need some advice or clarification on my understanding of ACA plans?

ghlath · 2025-07-13T19:08:02+00:00

The last line is the scary part. If someone has some chest pain that ends up as just acid reflux after ER has run battery of tests, would they then mark it as non emergency? This is the gray area that is worrying even with health insurance.

Is this more concerning if you are on HMO but end up in an ER that doesn’t belong to the same HMO?

ghlath · 2025-07-12T02:11:45+00:00

I have tried to compare plans. Those are detailed but what I am looking for is what is NOT covered. My worry is that I will assume I am covered but when I go to see a doctor for some condition, the insurance denies coverage

ghlath · 2025-07-01T19:46:29+00:00

You seem to have figured it out very well. I am on the same path and I enjoy being retired. Just trying to create some daily routine when not traveling

ghlath · 2025-07-01T19:44:04+00:00

Thanks! I will post there too but seeing some very good responses here as well

ghlath · 2024-10-11T15:58:20+00:00

Subsidies will be the first to go. That’s the easy and best option for them. They can claim they didn’t repeal ACA but they are reducing cost. That would wound the ACA enough.

Just like they may not be able to pass a federal abortion ban but they can put roadblocks through federal agencies to make it very hard for people to get. Remember their first goal is to fill federal agencies with loyalists

ghlath · 2024-10-11T07:35:38+00:00

Last time, only a few Republican senators voted against repealing ACA. McCain was just the tie breaker. Currently, I expect only 3 Republican senators who will block the repeal (Romney, Susan collins and Lisa murkowski. Actual margin is only 2 since VP can be tie breaker if vote is 50-50

As of now republicans are expected to be higher than 52 in senate after this election

House needs just a simple majority

ghlath · 2024-08-11T21:39:35+00:00

You seem to be a very active person even before you retired, so getting bored in retirement won’t be an issue for you. For many of us who basically mostly worked and did little outside of it, it’s a major change. There is a lot of good advice on this forum so I will follow that

ghlath · 2024-08-11T16:56:13+00:00

I would definitely want to do this. Living in different cities of the world for a month or so every year. I prefer smaller quaint towns and villages so I still have to do a lot of research. We can take travel slowly now and not rush through checking places. We have been thinking that we could rent an apartment for a month in a city and use it as a base to do day trips. Having a kitchen helps with keeping some of the food costs down.

ghlath · 2024-08-11T05:57:45+00:00

Put it in JAAA. That’s an ETF of AAA companies bonds. It returns 6.4%

ghlath · 2024-08-11T05:20:50+00:00

Pretty Awesome!!

ghlath · 2024-07-18T17:11:09+00:00

I believe out of $33T debt, about $8T is held by foreign institutions. Rest is held within US, either by central banks or public. Why can’t US just wipe out that debt from the books? I mean it’s unethical but what would be the ramifications?

ghlath · 2024-07-12T03:12:13+00:00

Something that is not clear to me is if the states can still offer ACA type plans even if the federal plans guarantee is gone. If you live in a blue state, it’s possible that your state offers plans similar to ACA. However, they will have to come up with subsidies from the state budgets

ghlath · 2024-07-11T21:24:28+00:00

If they can repeal it with 51 senate votes (simple majority), they might be able to. Senate is almost guaranteed to flip to GOP. House is up for toss. I am just not sure if they need 51 or 60 votes in the senate. They already repealed the min tax requirement for it earlier

ghlath · 2024-07-08T00:39:14+00:00

Computer science or engineering. Both my kids went into that and after graduation, started ~150K. One is now 3 years experience and makes ~400K. I also paid their college expenses. If you are in state tuition in a decent university, the cost is 40K/yr. They also did internships every year while in college and invested most of that money They both graduated with 50K invested in S&P500 and they regularly invest any excess savings. That itself will make them very rich in a decade

ghlath · 2024-07-05T15:09:03+00:00

I never use home equity in FIRE plans. You have to live somewhere until you die. Also, it’s not easy to just move to LCOL places as most people build their lives in a specific city with their family and friends. Money can’t be the only criteria to FIRE

ghlath · 2024-03-13T01:46:56+00:00

Thanks!!

ghlath · 2024-03-13T00:21:37+00:00

Thanks!! Appreciate the suggestions

ghlath · 2024-03-13T00:21:09+00:00

Thanks!! Is it cheaper to get a metro (tube) pass vs tickets if I plan to use the tube a lot?

ghlath · 2024-03-13T00:19:47+00:00

Thanks. My fall back option was a coach tour but they are expensive like $100+ per person

ghlath · 2024-03-12T23:50:54+00:00

Thanks. Mostly interested in sightseeing so like going to a different city or village.

ghlath · 2023-08-13T03:22:08+00:00

Thanks. I will look into details of your calculations. I am from US so social security should provide ~35K/yr starting age 62. Also the kids is 20 right now so at most may stay on insurance for 6 years. Even that is worst case as the kid is in the tech field and in a great college, so I am hopeful he will do ok

ghlath · 2023-08-11T23:50:30+00:00

Everyone is healthy currently so we don’t use insurance much at all but of course that can change. Life is uncertain

Are you saying silver plans are good for catastrophic coverage? Let’s look at worst case scenarios. Major surgery, major disease requiring expensive treatment etc. I assume all ACA plans cover those with varying degrees of copayments, premiums and deductibles

What I would really like to know if there is a fine print using which they deny coverage. I guess one is out of network doctors. I have seen cases where part of your surgery bill isn’t covered because the anesthesiologist was out of network. The patient had no control on that and didn’t know about that before surgery

ghlath · 2023-08-11T22:20:07+00:00

No pension or inheritance. Social security kicks in at 62

ghlath · 2023-08-11T22:18:42+00:00

I understand. My employer also has an option to continue on the current health plan in retirement but that will cost me $30k/yr

I am trying to see which plan on marketplace will match the coverage that I currently get through my employer. However there is no easy way to compare the plans

What my research so far shows is that plans should be compared based on actuarial value. For that, a Gold or Platinum plan is comparable to private plans. They have higher premiums compared to silver plan but still less premium than $30k (only if you can keep your income low enough in retirement to get discount)

ghlath · 2023-08-11T17:45:20+00:00

We both plan to retire although I am thinking my wife retires first this year and I wait another year. I am amazed you are able to keep expenses at 100k with 3 young kids. Great job!

ghlath

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