How to Get Health Insurance When You Retire Early

Our Rich Journey, How to Retire Early & Afford Healthcare (Less than $400/month for Family): Probably one of the biggest questions for early retirees is how can someone retire early and afford healthcare in the United States. In this video, we tackle this question by describing the Affordable Care Act and how it can be used to significantly reduce healthcare costs for early retirees.

You can use the Kaiser Family Foundation Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator to estimate your health insurance premiums/costs:

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DISCLAIMER:
We are not financial advisors. Our videos are for educational purposes only and merely cite our own personal opinions. In order to make the best financial decision that suits your own needs, you must conduct your own research and seek the advice of a licensed financial advisor if necessary. Know that all investments involve some form of risk and there is no guarantee that you will be successful in making, saving, or investing money; nor is there any guarantee that you won't experience any loss when investing. Always remember to make smart decisions and do your own research!

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#EarlyRetirement #FinancialIndependenceRetireEarly #FIRE

[OurRichJourney]

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[aljohnson]

Gosh! Just looking at these two loving people is making my day, they are so supportive of each other, it almost unreal!
God Bless your beautiful family!! You helped me a lot in setting up my goals on the road to FIRE!
Alex from USA.

[Living]

I’ve learned so much from these two beautiful people. 🙏🏼✨

[amyx]

The ACA penalty back in the day hit me right where it hurt. I got a job in February but insurance doesn’t apply until June. I had private insurance (Medicaid call center lady lied to me, long story) so I paid $370 x 2 months. Then canceled. That tax season I paid quite a lot for the penalty. 2%. That hurt.

I learned later Medicaid would’ve accepted me, as a new grad. But the call center lady got a commission for selling me a plan. Yeah….

[jamesgerboc]

Nice video. In PA we only have two plans. The national plans pulled out. Either of the two plans available cost almost $2000/mo for two people. Your calculation would get us down to less than $1000/mo or $12k a year, but we would have to stay under $65k of income. Not sure I could live like that as our budget for expenses even with no mortgage and no extras like memberships, services, or expensive cars is $5000/mo or $60k a year. And we live in a low cost of living state/area. Maybe renting is a better option. Something for me to think about.

[RetrieverTrainingAlone]

I retired at 62 and we limit our gross income to less than $89k up here in Alaska. That way we qualifiy for subisidize health insurance under Obamacare. Our subsidized Blue Cross Gold policy cost less than $1, 000 per year. The same policy would cost over $27, 000 per year unsubsidized. Thus by limiting our income, we saved over $75, 000 in 3 years until medicare kicks in.

[flaminfireboy]

Enjoyed the video! I'm a little confused. My understanding is ACA subsidies go based on income. So you wouldn't be judged based on the 4% you withdraw that year but based on the portion of that money that is realized capital gain as well as dividends you received that year. If that 4% was all(100%) dividends then your edibility would be based on your 4% due to it being all income. If my understanding is correct then the subsidies you are able to get should be greater even for the family withdrawing $100, 401 due to the majority of that money being assets.

[lindseyhamlin]

Great video! We're still in the workforce (at 40 yrs old) with employer sponsored health insurance, but we were curious on how the exchange works. You did a great job explaining it. Thanks!

[marierika]

Healthcare is very expensive. I love having Obamacare when I did. Thank you for the tip! Medical tourism is a very interesting topic! Specially for dental work! 1 dental implant in Calif was 5k. I went to Peru, where they have excellent dentist and got it for 1.2k big difference! I pay for my flight visited the country for less the 5k. But now I'm following the travel hacking videos! Lol

[BucketListTravellers]

As Australians we get universal health care and the price of private healthcare is heavily regulated. It's not a perfect system, but it works well :)

[Nanny-wpew]

Come across your channel about 2 weeks & I been watching some old & new one. Love your channel, it have a lot of very helpful tip. Thank you so much for for all your explain & share. Thump up on all your great videos!!!!👍👍👍👍

[bluesunproductions]

Good topic to cover is calculating MAGI which is what ACA bases tax credit off of, good episode

[jackn]

How do they determine your income when qualify for aid? Do they look back from your income last year? For this year, if you plan to only withdraw income for a targeted amount, how do they know if you follow through?

[QuesttoFIRE]

Excellent information once again. I’m no where near FIRE yet, I’ll be interested to see how healthcare evolves over the next decade in the USA.

[KemiLolaOsun]

Do you need life insurance if you’re on a FIRE journey? Do you guys have a video on that... please make one!

[Christina-Christina.]

Do you have a video that talks about getting medical insurance in Thailand?

[richardcooper]

Couple of questions, in today's low interest rates/returns and increased taxes do you think 4% is still a relevant figure? Secondly, why do you reside in Japan? If you are retired I would think there would be challenges as Americans living there due to language and cost of living. Finally, do you have recommendations for healthcare for expats like yourself? Really enjoy your videos.

[robertsmith]

Well none of these work for me. 32 years in law enforcement and got great pension, but very expensive health insurance. County give me 600 a month to pay for insurance, but the plans are super expensive. My plan for a family is 2400 a month with a 6000 deduction. Tried Obamacare but I make to much on my pension. Cobra was more then the plans and I would not get the 600 a month if I used Cobra. I do use an HSA to pay for medical stuff and write all the premiums off at end of year so its not so painful. Only choice till 65 is for me to get a job with benefits or just go without medical and use free clinic down the street. Aint America grand!

[notthejenfrombackthen]

Thanks so much you two. You're intuitive! Knowing there are tons of us out here who desperately desire to be independently wealthy and paying for insurance independent of jobs. Which can be a scary topic alone. Thank you so very much. Love your videos. This was super helpful and makes it not so scary to think about. There IS life after a 9 to 5 and the insurance they take out of the check.

[jdv]

Thank you so much for providing this information in such a clear and understandable manner. My question – my understanding is that you live in Portugal. If you get healthcare from Portugal, does this does this qualify / satisfy the ACA requirement for obtaining medical coverage