Insurance Options for Early Retirement and Full-time Travel

Unlock the secrets to your insurance options for early retirement. Discover essential tips for navigating health insurance, maximizing coverage, and saving money while enjoying your newfound freedom. From choosing the right insurance plans to navigating healthcare systems abroad, this video provides essential insights to ensure your health and well-being are covered wherever your adventures take you. Whether you're planning early retirement or embarking on full-time travel, these hacks will help you make informed decisions for a worry-free journey.

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👇🏻Our DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT Travel Essentials:

[bw]

I am in the United States about six months of the year and I have year-round coverage through ACA in my state for a very affordable price. When I travel outside the US I pick up safety wing and I’ve been doing that for years and I only have it for the months. I’m gone.. I’m a bit older so it is a little bit more expensive but well worth it.

[SisterSunnyFreeSpirit]

Lady checks in France are less than $40 and annual dental checks are less than 30. Im from Cali and very happy to pay oop for way better quality health elsewhere!

[lindadorman]

I retired last year at 62 and got an ACA plan. My income is $40K from Social Security, pension and side hustle. The cost for a BCBS plan is $26/month with dental. I got sick traveling in Asia, came back to the US and decided 2024 is the year to get my health needs checked out. So far, I've had a full workup of tests, cholesterol meds and cardio consult. My health has been good but I know that can change as I get older. I plan to keep the ACA coverage for when I'm here, and use Safety Wing for travel abroad.

[DestinationRetirement]

Wonderful information. Last time I was in Mexico I had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. I was having some unusual pain and put out a message to the local Facebook group and got a referral. I called for an appointment and two days later I had an appointment. My face-to-face sit down with the surgeon cost me about US$50. He sent me downstairs to get an x-ray of my hand, and that was about $35. Happy to pay out-of-pocket as long as it is feasible so the money in my HSA continues to grow tax-free. Of course this will be different when I make the full-time move to my house in Merida Mexico.

[Andy-hgdv]

As far as the ACA, my wife and I are retired not yet 65. We have 7 figure plus equity but keep our reported income at $65, 000 per year. We pay $24/month for insurance(it’s fairly high deductible) and it covers general care at 100%.

[SandiHooper]

Californian female in my 60s—Safety Wing is $209/4 weeks with electronic theft add on.

[smileystevie]

Great information on healthcare insurance options while traveling abroad.
Thanks, Brian & Carrie.

[mpat]

Just to clarify something. The plan Carrie gets is also ACA. It's just that WA has their own exchange that you buy the insurance through. The federal as well as WA exchanges make it very easy to compare plans and figure out how much you're going to pay based on your income. I'm self employed so I pay for my own insurance (which I buy through the ACA exchange). The cost is going to drop significantly when I retire because I can keep my taxable income pretty low. I guess I'm the rare person who's going to pay a lot less for health insurance at early retirement than when working.

[enjoystraveling]

It’s a shame that in the United States the medical cost are sky high plus even getting prescription. A regular check up is highly complex in sky high also.

[muminab]

My husband has Medicare. I am not old enough and I pay $870 monthly with a $7500 year deductible!!! It’s the cheapest I can find with ACA 😢

[lvivlion]

I was a digital nomad for 3 years and I traveled the world. From my first visit, I knew that I would eventually settle in Spain. Last year my husband and I bought a beach front apartment in Alicante, Spain. We paid a little over 110, 000 €. We were also granted permanent residence. Since I am Ukrainian I will work towards Spanish citizenship. My husband is American so I doubt he would give up his citizenship.

[DominicDSouza]

Wow! You guys are amazing. Thank you for your diligence in research and then presenting facts for anyone that is interested. Truly helpful and entertaining (love Brian's jokes). My wife and I are residents in Vancouver WA and will be spending time in Thailand and Vietnam next year. We have learned so nuch from you both. Thank you. 👍❤️

[daveau]

Love you guys and thanks for the video.

The important thing to understand with the ACA is that the premium subsidies are based on taxable INCOME levels, not net worth. You could have $1M in cash savings that you are currently drawing down to live on in early retirement but creating zero taxable income, and your ACA premium would be almost zero cost (if not zero). So those in that situation should carefully understand how much taxable income they can generate (maybe Roth conversion out of a taxable retirement account) and still be under the threshold of where the ACA premiums start to disappear.

It sounds crazy but those with considerable cash savings can get US ACA healthcare plans for almost nothing and that loophole exists. Pair that with global travel coverage (no US coverage) or fully out of pocket foreign healthcare and you should be good.

[placesonthelist]

I was one of the lucky ones whose pension plans included health care till 65. I retired at 59 and kept the same group plan I had while working at the same cost. I'm now on Medicare and just buy a annual travel insurance plan since we only travel a max of 90 days outside the US at a time.

[salamanders]

I’m dual citizen US and EU country. I have EU health card issued in my home country and it’s valid for the whole EU. That takes care of that as far as Europe goes.

[JohnS-zqks]

Excellent video and topic. QUESTION for the group: If I have two health policies, how are claims resolved when both policies say that their benefits are "secondary" to other insurance? For example, the insured must exhaust all other insurance first.

[LiveandGoWander]

Thank you for the video! Regarding Safety Wing, can you change terms with them, such as increase the deductible to reduce the price. I briefly reviewed it online, but didn't see anywhere to alter the coverages or any other options. Thank you!

[BoninBrighton]

Some countries have reciprocal health care arrangements eg UK and Australia etc so it’s well worth checking.

[ExpatGlobetrotter]

Hey guys, great video! If I may I would like to add some information. Your channel is so much larger than mine so I know you can reach more people.
If from the US I highly recommend United Healthcare, Safe Trip Insurance. Before I began my travels I researched this topic until I was blue in the face. Depending on what state you’re from you can get there plan thats both Travel and full medical insurance for up to 6 months of travel. Some States though like Florida you can only get coverage for 90 days. By far I found both their coverage and cost to be the best. Also another great benefit is they pay directly to the healthcare provider as long as the healthcare provider agrees.
I unfortunately had the opportunity to use my coverage with a trip to the emergency room in Hoi An, Vietnam and they paid the entire cost directly to the hospital. I do have a video about all the details on my channel, if you want to find it and add the link in your response, there extra information for your viewers. Be safe out there fellow YouTubers! 😊

[Rugrats]

I checked on the ACA showing that when I retire (single) and showing I’m only withdrawing or making $29K, my monthly payment would be $0 on a HMO HSA w a high deductible and high co-pay in the state of florida. I actually can take out $34k because the $5k is taxed like a pre-tax 401k so the $5K won’t show up a gross income to make my payments go
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