@doschicos - yes, way below my income.
@dstark - Ha! (that said…barbecue…mmm…)
Medical expenses can derail a lot of budgets, especially when your coverage and needs don’t mesh well. This year, we hit our out of pocket maximum for me in June! My medical issues are likely to just continue and even worsen as I age, since I have a chronic progressive condition. H has had surgery and LOTS of Physical Therapy this year. We are grateful for great insurance plus H also has Medicare A&B.
I know many people who struggle to afford the medical care and Rx they need, especially after they can no longer work.
While far from a perfect system and who knows where healthcare may be headed (universal healthcare please! [-O< ) there are some benefits to the current ACA model. One of them is out of pocket maximum which for 2016 will be $7,150 for single coverage and $14,300 for family coverage. Not a small amount by any means but better than it used to be.
Yes, it is much better that there is a cap for out of pocket expenses now – which many did not have before. Sadly, there are things NOT covered under that cap that patients many need of benefit from. These would be additional expenses–travel for medical consultations, durable medical equipment that is not covered and more. These can definitely add up as well.
I have just redone my social security spreadsheets, comparing different strategies, to reflect the no longer available “file and suspend” strategy, and I can really see why people start taking ss early! If my wife and I filed for ss today (we are both 63) we could colledt $38k/yr, and that can be hard to pass up for the semi-promise of a higher amount in an uncertain future. Fortunately, we don’t need the money right now, but I will be so pissed off if I die before 80!! (<=that is sort of a joke, ha ha). We have been very lucky with healthcare, both in terms of our health and how ACA has worked for us. I know it has not worked as intended for many, and we might not have any particpating insurance companies in NC next year! Stay tuned. But we are approaching Medicare age.
I went on Medicare in June and I’ll hit full retirement age in November and you better believe I’m going to start collecting Social Security. Who knows if I’ll even be walking around by 70. My mother wasn’t.
Anyone from Mississippi here on CC? Please don’t spit your grits on your rebel flag tablecloth, but you may have been insulted in Post 9419. (William Faulkner weeping…)
@PetulaClark, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Fwiw, I didn’t insult Mississippi, but said that it was the longest 6 months of my life. I was transplanted to a rural area where I knew nobody after spending a decade in DC where I had friends, I thought that working at NASA would be a blast (sorry) but the job wasn’t what had been promised, the food was wonderful but I also missed pizza and bagels, etc. And, let’s be clear, the prevailing mindset in Mississippi in 1980 was not something I was comfortable with, nor were they comfortable with me.
The point I should have stuck to making was that my so-so DC-level salary, when paid to me in Mississippi, let me live like a king. That is, COL matters. A lot.
ETA: that was in post 9409, 9419 was Dstark’s.
Is the ACA maximum out of pocket in addition to the premiums you pay?
@IxnayBob No problem with your post. I wouldn’t want to live in rural Mississippi either. I can already do that in North Carolina. (Just have your birth certificate handy before you use a public restroom). Although I suspect I might find a few progressives in Jackson, Oxford… though I wonder how any educated person can live anywhere but NYC, DC, Boston, LA, San Francisco…
@PetulaClark, interestingly, we had briefly considered Asheville, NC as a retirement location. DW could have engineered a transfer to Cary, and we became interested in Asheville (way too far to commute, but it got us thinking). I had an unsettling conversation on FB with a well-intentioned realtor who was obviously uncomfortable with his government’s position. He and I agreed that probably a majority of Asheville residents would be open and tolerant, but he understood that I couldn’t look my trans male son in the eyes and tell him that his mother and I were buying a house where he was officially unwelcome.
Finding a nice sympatico place to retire is not easy. In our case, money is the least of our worries.
@IxnayBob Well, I hope you will still consider Asheville, and NC in general. The Raleigh SMSA , including Cary, is one of the top ten metro areas for % of adult college grads. I expect we will have a new governor after November, and maybe a repeal of that silly and odious law. My 2 daughters in HS cannot wait to graduate and leave NC for colleges in Oregon or Pennsylvania, anywhere outside the South. I tell them there is a lot of intolerance everywhere.
Sorry, my first post was not meant to indict you. In NC we tend more to belittle SC (not VA!) although years ago we were thankful for Mississippi for keeping our NC schools from being dead last in education. I just found the other post to be snarky in lumping one whole state together. (Although I have to admit, even if most splits on any issue are 55 to 45, rather than 90 to 10, if you are in that 45%, you may have your rights taken away).
@PetulaClark, I didn’t feel indicted, and to some extent, I should be called out for my northern arrogance 
There are beautiful homes around Asheville. They’re not inexpensive, but selling in NJ and buying in NC would be a win
It was a huge win for us.
I believe it is, so if the policy “out of pocket max” is $10k you could be out $16k including premiums. This factored into our decision to go with a lower level policy this year.
Yes, it is in addition to premiums which makes looking at specific policies carefully very important. As @NJres mentions, it can make cheaper, lower level policies a more practical and financially astute choice.
Changing the subject here a bit; how influenced are you by your friends/coworker’s impending retirement? I have relatively young friend who retired with comfortable pension at 56, wife fixing to retire at 57, cousin who just retired at 55, friend who is thinking about it 57, friend who retired at 66 and whose 10 year younger wife is thinking about retiring soon. All of this is causing me to reevaluate our retirement plans… DH can retire now at 55 with about 75% of his salary, in another 6 months I can collect 40% of salary from my previous job, and could actually retire from this job with a very, very small pension. None of these pensions include any COL increases. I have seen and am seeing too many folks become disabled or die young, and I am jealous (not the right word, exactly) of folks able to retire soon. I would love the freedom to travel when and where I want without the job responsibilities piling up back at home.
Does having friends retire influence your decision making process?
No. I retired first. 
My wife and I… That is all I care about as far as how we are going to live. Maybe my daughter if she moves.
I don’t care what anybody else thinks because they aren’t living our lives. I don’t care about other people’s choices either because I am not them.
@anxiousmom, i am waiting for the US Open to start. I am killing time so please don’t let this post affect any of your decisions.
Thanks, I won’t! ;-). I just feel a little bereft and left behind, with everyone retiring! Our plan now is to retire in another 6 or 7 years. House is paid off, both kid’s weddings contributed to or paid for as of this month, kids’ undergrad education paid for and they have/are taking care of all grad education, onwards towards saving like crazy for the next 6-7 years!
We were fortunate that things lined up nicely for us. H lived his job and was appreciated there. Congress passed legislation to help his pension AND he got a raise that also helped his pension. Because we were regularly prepaying the mortgage with an extra $500/month, we managed to pay it off while we were finishing paying college tuition & expenses for our younger kiddo, just as my grant ended and my income dropped to $0. Everything came together so that the day H planned to retire was optimal for finances and pension. Since he retired, he’s been getting his body repaired via physical therapy and recently completed rotator cuff surgery.
We have considered moving but can’t find any good reason for doing so. Most of our ties are here and we are used to and can afford the HCOL. We may re-evaluate once our kiddos settle, especially if we ever get any grandkids.
@anxiousmom, your plan sounds good to me.
If money gets tight, you can sell your screen name. I don’t know how you got that name with all the anxiousmoms out there!