FL uses the Federal exchange, so you can go to healthcare.gov and browse the available plans for any given zipcode there.
Florida has one of the highest if not the highest number of ACA enrollees of any state. So far they have not signed up for expanded Medicaid so it is causing budget pressure.
Liberal? Maybe in a parallel universe…
Scott is against the ACA but there is not much he can do against it. And he recently signed a bill banning balance billing, so if you go into an in-network hospital and wind up with a provider who is not in your network, they can’t bill you for it.
“My brother is hanging on but it is really stressful and I suspect he will retire at age 61. That would leave 4 years to Medicare. What are the new retirees doing before Medicare?”
Definitely ACA although he can shop around based on his health and see if there are other options that might be more cost effective/better coverage for what he wants and needs. A benefit to ACA for early retirees is that it is an income test not an asset test.
^tongue firmly planted in cheek while typing in my prior post, @notrichenough. Sometimes, typing just doesn’t convey quite enough.
Thanks, @DocT. I’ll have him check. He is in NJ. Don’t know what their deal is. Does each town/city cut its own deal or is there a state health insurance plan for teachers?
That income test is not a good thing. We have been cashing out and living on assets that have no capital gains. So actual income is low. In California that would put me into Medi-Cal, where I definitely don’t want to be, despite sitting on plenty of assets. I suppose there is no downside to overstating income so that I can pay for insurance rather than being forced onto Medi-Cal?
"@busdriver11 Given that you work for a large corporation and given the nature of your job and its requirement that you travel extensively, it doesn’t surprise me that your medical expenses would be covered abroad where most plans wouldn’t. Also, my guess is your plan might differentiate between emergency care and something more routine and scheduled.’
I dunno. It just looked like the difference between in network and out, even for the emergency services. Pretty cheap in Switzerland at the time, anyways.
“Thanks, @DocT. I’ll have him check. He is in NJ. Don’t know what their deal is. Does each town/city cut its own deal or is there a state health insurance plan for teachers?”
In CT, all teachers are afforded the right to continue with their health plan until 65 which usually includes dependents until a spouse for example reaches 65. However not all towns have the same contract from the standpoint of what percentage of the total healthcare cost, the retiree must pay. My wife is fortunate that she will pay the same as a current employee.
My sister’s school system sometimes offers an incentive for teachers who have a certain # of years in to opt for early retirement. If she is offered this in the fall, she will take it. She may also decide not to renew for her position even w/o the incentive. With incentive, she can continue to pay for herself on the school’s insurance plan until she is eligible for medicare at 65 - she can use her incentive money to pay the additional premium rate, otherwise just pay for the premiums out of savings. It sounds like her retirement money (pension and SS - it sounds like she will draw spousal rate, her H is older, she is already 62) will be equal to what she is making now. In hindsight, if she had seen some of the problems this academic year, she might have decided to take the option last fall - but they are pretty conservative with money and want to make sure they are doing the right thing, and they rely a lot on FA and also fear of the unknown. Her original plan was to work until 65, but a grandchild will be entering school an hour away, and not being tied down will allow more family time and involvement with grandchildren’s education.
MIL got driven out of her first grade teaching job by Principal who was her student - she taught multiple generations. He could save on budget with new teachers (MIL was at top of teacher pay scale). The Superintendent had MIL teach his kids to read, and then the wife home schooled their kids after that - that is how high her reputation was (their kids were very smart, so the parents found home schooling worked for them). MIL actually could have used sick time (which was lost if not used in her system) for hip surgery, but felt a duty to her class to be their teacher for the year. Principal made her do playground duty instead of the available aides - she has since retirement had successful both hip surgeries. At that time, FIL was working FT for the post office, so they were able to continue insurance there or she may have paid the extra for continuing the teacher insurance. They have the school system insurance as their Medicare supplement. I think she retired at 64, but was chicken for the hip surgery until the pain prevented her from sleeping. She also didn’t put in the retirement notice until the last opportunity (after the school year ended) because she was bitter and did not want the retirement party send off.
The health care insurance coverage is important.
ACA is not to be trusted - plans are pulling out - in our state, there is only one plan left on ACA.
States have to balance their budgets. They may modify some aspects of benefits for current state employees, but they are obligated to pay the pensions. The pension investments may not be doing great, but if accepting a defined benefit - the state can do a lot of things to pay for this obligation.
The State of AL, as much as others like to consider inferior in many ways, has a very fiscally solid teacher retirement system program - there are many in other states that are in trouble.
@shawbridge, is it NY or NJ that your brother is a teacher in? He can check with HR at his school or state pensions and benefits division regarding health benefits for retirees.
I retired from a municipal government (not a teacher) in NJ and currently collecting state pension, still have 6 years before medicare kicks in, my current health benefits are fully paid for by the state, except for co-pay and additional costs for out of network.
These billons of dollars your state is throwng into the garbage has an impact on Alabama’s healthcare system and Alabama’s economy.
Now I am specualting but I believe that Alabama’s refusal to expand medicaid is also impacting other health indurance plans. If hospitals are losing $700 milliom a year, I have to think that affects their pricing. They have to make up some of that money somewhere.
There’s some plugging of his software, which I didn’t mind so much because I like the software, but overall it can open your eyes to consumption smoothing.
Some social security details might be dated (eg, file and suspend) but the basics hold.
@dstark - There is no fraud! Selling assets which have earned no cap gains is not fraud. And I don’t see why it is fraud to NOT partake of government welfare! The other way around, sure. But refusing to take welfare should be applauded.
As I understand it anyway, a person is supposed to state income for the coming year, which is unknown so one is just putting down a best guess.
Thank you @IxnayBob, I’ll check it out of the library. And I’m up for more suggestions. Basically, DH, who is a bit older than I am, realized he knows very little how to make the most of what we’ve saved/accumulated, and how/when to use whatever we qualify for medicare/social security, etc.
Maybe on some forms it is. But overstating income does not result in any penalties under ACA. The government doesn’t want anymore Medi-Cal recipients than it already has.