Retirees whatcha living on?..........

[antelopedundee]

"Under Musk, the government may have the ability to stop Social Security Disability Insurance payments, as well as other benefits such as Medicaid or Meals on Wheels, according to the national committee."

How Elon Musk's access to Treasury system may impact Social Security, other government payments

News that Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk now has access to a government payment system that is responsible for $6 trillion in annual federal payments — including Social Security and Medicare benefits — has prompted criticism from Democratic lawmakers and advocates.

www.aol.com

It's SSDI not SS itself. For now.

 

[Steiny77]

Just got on Medicare recently but prior to that we simply purchased ACA insurance. Anyone can do this and you can't be denied coverage.
It will vary state to state, but it's all income based. If you make more $$ you pay more.

Our first year on ACA (spouse and myself) it was running about $1800 per month based on about $120k income. Anyone making over about $70k didn't get any cost reductions.
When Covid hit, they raised that $7k threshold up substantially, I believe $250k. That helped a bunch and cut our insurance down to about $800 per month. I'm now on Medicare but still using ACA coverage for my spouse, and cost per month barely went down, so we'll be paying in that range next couple years until she hits Medicare age. It's rather high deductible insurance with no dental or vision, basically designed to keep you from going broke due to a medical issue.

If you are relatively low income this insurance is quite cheap.

MediShare mentioned above is a religious based organization, kind of an insurance CO-OP. We checked it out and not being a regular church goer, the first thing I would of had to do is lie to them.

 

[Bob-WY]

We are bridging the years til Medicare with aca. It varies by state and how they implemented it. We planned for this for years, we saved a significant amount in savings account and CDs. The only :"ncome" on this is interest. We then live on this for that majority of our budget. Augment this with a trickle from IRA which are not taxable and taxable income stays low enough for ACA to be very VERY cheap. When this runs out on this we can branch over to my companies insurance paying 50% until Medicare

It's all in the planning

 

[Bonasababy]

We are bridging the years til Medicare with aca. It varies by state and how they implemented it. We planned for this for years, we saved a significant amount in savings account and CDs. The only :"ncome" on this is interest. We then live on this for that majority of our budget. Augment this with a trickle from IRA which are not taxable and taxable income stays low enough for ACA to be very VERY cheap. When this runs out on this we can branch over to my companies insurance paying 50% until Medicare

It's all in the planning

Good plan! Our insurance through my employer is very good, just expensive after retirement until 65. We'd retire, go ACA then go back to the employer plan...but once you leave it you can't go back.

 

[BRI]

As I mentioned earlier, I underestimated the insurance cost by quite a bit (or at least what I think is quite a bit). Retired last year at 55, the wife and I went through healthcare dot gov. When I signed up, I only used our income from the pension and her income. Simply didn't even think about investment account income, since we haven't really needed to dip into that account, and that it was based on adjusted gross income (totally my F up). We're in a position to be able to afford it, which is great. But I'm paying near $8k/year for essentially major medical with a $15k deductible. In 2024, I never went to the doctor once. My wife went one time. I'm not risk averse and think all the time about taking the chance of not being covered, but one mishap negates that.

 

[antelopedundee]

"Under Musk, the government may have the ability to stop Social Security Disability Insurance payments, as well as other benefits such as Medicaid or Meals on Wheels, according to the national committee."

How Elon Musk's access to Treasury system may impact Social Security, other government payments

News that Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk now has access to a government payment system that is responsible for $6 trillion in annual federal payments — including Social Security and Medicare benefits — has prompted criticism from Democratic lawmakers and advocates.

www.aol.com

It's SSDI not SS itself. For now.

Someone angry at me or the Guvmint?

 

[Bonasababy]

As I mentioned earlier, I underestimated the insurance cost by quite a bit (or at least what I think is quite a bit). Retired last year at 55, the wife and I went through healthcare dot gov. When I signed up, I only used our income from the pension and her income. Simply didn't even think about investment account income, since we haven't really needed to dip into that account, and that it was based on adjusted gross income (totally my F up). We're in a position to be able to afford it, which is great. But I'm paying near $8k/year for essentially major medical with a $15k deductible. In 2024, I never went to the doctor once. My wife went one time. I'm not risk averse and think all the time about taking the chance of not being covered, but one mishap negates that.

8k a year? 2400 a month for my wife and myself after retirement until we turn 65. It is more like a gold plan covers pretty much everything other than copays at the visit and a few k deductible, but still.

Have a lot on in my health care savings plan--it won't quite carry us to she hits 65--but saves enough to help us travel a bit early in retirement until I take SS.

 

[BRI]

8k a year? 2400 a month for my wife and myself after retirement until we turn 65. It is more like a gold plan covers pretty much everything other than copays at the visit and a few k deductible, but still.

Have a lot on in my health care savings plan--it won't quite carry us to she hits 65--but saves enough to help us travel a bit early in retirement until I take SS.

$2400/month on ACA or is that keeping employer insurance? Are you paying $28k/year out of pocket in just premiums? That sounds incredibly high to me

If so, and maybe I'm over-simplifying and I'm wrong but with my deductible and premium, the max I should be out of pocket would be $23K in a calendar year. Unless a mishap, I'll only be paying $8k