Health Care and Early Retirement (lemmy.world)

submitted 15 hours ago by Phfedup@lemmy.world to c/fire@lemmy.ml

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One of the biggest factors in figuring out when early retirement is possible for me is the uncertainty of health care. I've looked into ACA plans, tried to estimate how much things will cost when life is healthy and when it isn't, and considered alternative scenarios, but haven't made myself comfortable, yet, with my options. What are you considering before you qualify for Medicare?

ACA and other commercial plans?
Spouse/partner not retiring early?
Participate in a country with universal/national healthcare?

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[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago

We're looking at this problem too and my wife suggested something I hadn't seen before: student healthcare.

As in, enroll in a school with the smallest class load (1 class?) to be eligible for student health insurance which is usually fairly affordable. I wouldn't mind taking classes anyway in retirement so this appeals to me.

[-] Phfedup@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

I think it would be great if we had our own little FIRE wiki/article with various options like this. Had heard this from someone else before, but had forgotten about it.

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Another aspect of FIRE health insurance is how to pay for it. If you have it available and plan ahead, you can use previous HSA contributions to pay for premiums after you retire. This takes years of annual contributions without using it in that tax year, but those funds can also be invested and grow tax free (for healthcare spending including insurance premiums). More than 50% of my HSA account balance has been from investment returns (boring total stock market index fund) instead of my annual deposits.