I want to quit my job

[frugalnacho]

Took the plunge and just sold $60k worth of vtsax from my brokerage.  I anticipate it will be closer to $61k when it actually executes since market was up (unless it drops in the last 5 minutes of the day).  Should be about $21k in LTCG.  This will disqualify me from getting the savers credit, but the entire $21k will be taxed at 0%.  Between this, the money currently in checking/savings, and what I'm going to earn until my last day I should have somewhere around $90k in cash to get me through 2022 and fund the business start up. 

With the market being up yesterday it was actually around $62k with $22k in LTCG.   I will owe 4.25% state income tax on that.

[frugalnacho]

And January is here.  I have my resignation letter typed up.

Trying to figure out how to apply for medicaid, but they don't make it easy.  I tried to create an account, but it said my phone number is already associated with an account.  I thought that was weird, but apparently everything government related in Michigan uses the same michigan website login, so I already have an account that I use to renew my driver's license.  So I try to log in and get told the account is "temporarily locked".  I assume it's because I typed the password in wrong the first time.  The FAQ says if your account is temporarily locked it will last 30 minutes, so try back after that.  I waited 2 hours and it's still locked, so I called the number to talk to a real person.  I follow all the prompts and the automated message tells me they are experiencing high call volume, then says goodbye and hangs up. 

WTF.  I just have to keep calling back during work hours until they have low enough call volume that I can speak to someone? 

[Fru-Gal]

I'm right there with you. Had trouble with my first application which then locked it up. Was able to get back in a few days later and make changes. One thing I noticed was it had erroneously filled in questions about the marital status of my children, with them being checked as married. It was confusing, do I select "single" or "never married" for someone underage haha? Still working on it...

[frugalnacho]

This seems like it's going to be a problem to get coverage when it's impossible to ever get ahold of anyone.  Is this a particularly bad week for social services or something? Or is it normal to not be able to get in contact with anyone?

[Loren Ver]

I don't have any data or anything, but I'd assume the first week back from the Christmas/New Years everything changes so people call and everyone gets  the new special covid times would be really busy.

I could be wrong though. 

Take a deep breath and give everyone a little extra patience (including yourself). 
Call back at different times. 

[frugalnacho]

I have been, but if I turn my notice in on Monday I'll need to have this sorted out by the end of the month.  I'm assuming my coverage will last until the end of January. 

I guess I'll just keep calling back.

[HPstache]

I am not super familiar with the in's and out's of Medicaid... but how will you be eligible for it?  Isn't there an income & asset test to qualify?

[frugalnacho]

No asset test, and I won't have any income because I won't have a job.   

I'm ineligible to for subsidies via ACA.  You have to be above the Medicaid income limit in order to qualify for any ACA subsidies, if you are below you have to apply for medicaid (or just pay full price without subsidies, but I don't think that's a serious option).  I could also use COBRA and pick up the $16k/yr premiums, plus paying on top of that for any medical care I actually use, which also isn't a serious option.


The children will have to be on MIChild which specifies there is no asset test:

https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-71547_2943_4845_4931---,00.html

And me and my wife will have to be on The Healthy Michigan Plan which also specifies no asset test:

https://www.michigan.gov/healthymiplan/0,5668,7-326-67874---,00.html

It's just a matter of getting in contact with them so they can unlock my michigan account so I can apply.  I'm sure they'll have questions and we'll go back and forth, but I will have no income at all from February onward so I'll definitely be under the 133% FPL threshold they have set on a monthly basis. 

[HPstache]

No asset test, and I won't have any income because I won't have a job.   

I'm ineligible to for subsidies via ACA.  You have to be above the Medicaid income limit in order to qualify for any ACA subsidies, if you are below you have to apply for medicaid (or just pay full price without subsidies, but I don't think that's a serious option).  I could also use COBRA and pick up the $16k/yr premiums, plus paying on top of that for any medical care I actually use, which also isn't a serious option.


The children will have to be on MIChild which specifies there is no asset test:

https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-71547_2943_4845_4931---,00.html

And me and my wife will have to be on The Healthy Michigan Plan which also specifies no asset test:

https://www.michigan.gov/healthymiplan/0,5668,7-326-67874---,00.html

It's just a matter of getting in contact with them so they can unlock my michigan account so I can apply.  I'm sure they'll have questions and we'll go back and forth, but I will have no income at all from February onward so I'll definitely be under the 133% FPL threshold they have set on a monthly basis.

I see, so Medicaid will only be your temporary solution until your new business starts making you an income?

[lhamo]

They are probably swamped with people signing up or changing coverage during the regular ACA enrollment period.

Are you near any of these Navigator sites? 

https://www.navigateresources.net/hwmi/MatchList.aspx?k;;0;;N;0;0;Navigator%20Programs

Highly recommend trying to meet with one in person if you are.  At least establish the relationship with them and then they can sign you up when you quit and your monthly income drops to 0.  They can also confirm when your coverage will actually start (for kids I'm pretty sure it backdates too the start of whatever month you sign up in, but for adults you may have to wait until the next month starts.

[frugalnacho]

No asset test, and I won't have any income because I won't have a job.   

I'm ineligible to for subsidies via ACA.  You have to be above the Medicaid income limit in order to qualify for any ACA subsidies, if you are below you have to apply for medicaid (or just pay full price without subsidies, but I don't think that's a serious option).  I could also use COBRA and pick up the $16k/yr premiums, plus paying on top of that for any medical care I actually use, which also isn't a serious option.


The children will have to be on MIChild which specifies there is no asset test:

https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-71547_2943_4845_4931---,00.html

And me and my wife will have to be on The Healthy Michigan Plan which also specifies no asset test:

https://www.michigan.gov/healthymiplan/0,5668,7-326-67874---,00.html

It's just a matter of getting in contact with them so they can unlock my michigan account so I can apply.  I'm sure they'll have questions and we'll go back and forth, but I will have no income at all from February onward so I'll definitely be under the 133% FPL threshold they have set on a monthly basis.

I see, so Medicaid will only be your temporary solution until your new business starts making you an income?

Yes.  It appears to be my only option unless I want to pay full market price for insurance.

They are probably swamped with people signing up or changing coverage during the regular ACA enrollment period.

Are you near any of these Navigator sites? 

https://www.navigateresources.net/hwmi/MatchList.aspx?k;;0;;N;0;0;Navigator%20Programs

Highly recommend trying to meet with one in person if you are.  At least establish the relationship with them and then they can sign you up when you quit and your monthly income drops to 0.  They can also confirm when your coverage will actually start (for kids I'm pretty sure it backdates too the start of whatever month you sign up in, but for adults you may have to wait until the next month starts.

That link doesn't work.


At any rate I have my resignation letter typed up and I think I'm just gonna go deliver it today before I leave.
I imagine it will be like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV8ayGtG_CM

[lhamo]

Try this and then click through the healthcare channel:

https://www.navigateresources.net/hwmi/

Good luck with your resignation!  It has been a long time coming and I hope it improves your life....

[DaMa]

Have you tried going through the marketplace?  I haven't done it , but I think if you go through healthcare.gov they send the application to your state and then the state contacts you.

[DoneFSO]

Forgive me if this is an ignorant question, but do you have to commit to a year of COBRA?  That would be very expensive, but could you get COBRA coverage for a month or two while Medicaid is sorted out?  That would be expensive, of course, but not nearly as bad as paying for a whole year of COBRA coverage. 

It sounds like stress is compounding on top of stress for you.  In the midst of this, don't forget that it was measures of wisdom and forethought that got you this far in life; keep calm, carry on, and you will come out on the other side of this okay.

[frugalnacho]

When I go to healthcare.gov it tells me I'm not eligible for subsidies and directs me to my state website for medicaid.  I have not tried to actually sign up, just check what's available through the marketplace.  I'll check into if I can apply through healthcare.gov though since my state office is still unreachable. 

I believe I can just do month to month with COBRA and no commitment is required.   I'd rather not spend the $1,300 or whatever per month if I qualify for medicaid though.  I can afford it, but would still rather not.

I handed in my resignation and it caught them off guard.  They asked me where I was going and I was open about starting my own company.  They wanted to retain me, but given the situation realized it's not going to happen.  I told them I'm available for consulting for anything environmental related and they can hire me to do any of the upcoming reports, which are all detailed in the nice scheduling spreadsheet I created.  For everything else I wished them good luck.

At the time my boss was reading over and lamenting the new covid mandates going into effect.  Apparently all federal employees (and we have government contracts) are going to be required to get the vaccine, and he thinks it's going to cause a mass resignation among the unvaccinated assholes here.  He then told me he isn't vaccinated.  "I'm not anti-vax or opposed to it, I just haven't gotten around to it".  No, if you aren't vaccinated by point you are definitely anti-vax.  Just one more reason to GTFO of here.

[lhamo]

Whoo hoo!  When is your last day?

[frugalnacho]

January 21.  Which means I get to spend one more birthday (20th) here.

[314159]

Congratulations on your resignation! I just read the thread straight through, good job making it to January!

[frugalnacho]

Have you tried going through the marketplace?  I haven't done it , but I think if you go through healthcare.gov they send the application to your state and then the state contacts you.

Still getting hung up on when I try to call to get my account unlocked so I just went to healthcare.gov and submitted an application, and they forwarded to my state medicaid department.  I had to lie on it because it asks for your income this month, and then calculates out what your annual income is to see if you qualify.  I understand why they are doing that, but it's not really applicable to my situation so I just said it was $0 to calculate out $0 annual income since that's what I anticipate for February on.  Hopefully once I get in touch with a real person I can explain it all.

I hope they are timely and can get this resolved, because medicaid will be a completely different set of doctors for us, so I really don't want to have to have to get any medical care with no coverage and then try to get it resolved after the fact.  I've been planning this for a long time, but I would imagine most people are thrust into this situation and need coverage resolved pretty quickly.

[BikeFanatic]

Great news on the resignation! I believe with cobra you can postpone signing up for it, then if you have an emergency and the Medicaid has not gone through you can sign up 30 or even 60 days later and pay retroactively. Look at the cobra rules.

[frugalnacho]

Yes it's 60 days once your benefits end to enroll and make coverage retroactive, so in an emergency I can retain coverage no matter what.  It's expensive though so I'd rather get the free option. 
I sure would hate to have to pay $2,600 in premiums, plus the cost of a dr visit and the cost of a prescription just to get my blood pressure medication because my state medicaid can't get their shit together.  Just dealing with this bullshit insurance system in america is stressful enough to necessitate blood pressure medication.

[Dicey]

Surely your blood pressure medication can be stockpiled (with your current doctor's help - samples perhaps?) or obtained fairly inexpensively?

[Fru-Gal]

I am in a very similar situation. I think what I’m going to do is do an attestation of income form because obviously I’m not gonna be zero income but I’m also trying to put in just the right amount of income so I’m above the Medicaid level which ends up splitting up our family into two plans.

[SailingOnASmallSailboat]

Check Walmart's pharmacy - they have a $5/30 day supply for generic forms of a lot of drugs, no insurance required. See if your meds are on that list. It's been a godsend for our 2nd child and the anxiety meds they're on.

[frugalnacho]

Surely your blood pressure medication can be stockpiled (with your current doctor's help - samples perhaps?) or obtained fairly inexpensively?

Nope.  90 day supply limit for all medications.  Last refill was in December.  I'm not even eligible to get another supply until March, which is when mine will run out.  I generally have about 1 weeks worth of medication left by the time my Rx can be refilled.  I have one last appointment scheduled for the end of January, so I'll discuss the situation with him.  I have no idea of the actual price, I always just get it via my regular insurance for cheap (not really cheap since I pay out the ass for insurance in the first place, but that's a sunk cost).

My Rx are still active, and can get renewed at my dr appointment this month, so I'll check into walmart and other places that don't require insurance.  Hopefully the state contacts me back soon and approves my application and gets me that sweet, sweet medicaid on the tax payer's dime. 

[DaMa]

Hi, there.  The 90 day limit is based on your insurance.  If your doctor writes a script for say 90 days, with 3 refills, you can get it all 360 days at once, but your insurance won't pay for it.   (There are exceptions to this like opiates, and it may vary by state.)

In 2016, I was taking a drug that I could get at Costco, 90 day supply for $16,  cash pay.  My insurance required pre-auth and limited it to 30 days with a $30 copay ($80 total cost at Walgreens).  It was Costco that told me I could get the whole 360 if I wanted to.  It was my doctor that told me to go to Costco.  You don't have to have a membership to get prescriptions at Costco. 

Most fill limits are cost reduction strategies set by the insurance companies.

(I did this before I had a HDHP.  When you have that, you also have to weigh not having the expense included in your OOP max.  I hate our system.)

[Dicey]

Hi, there.  The 90 day limit is based on your insurance.  If your doctor writes a script for say 90 days, with 3 refills, you can get it all 360 days at once, but your insurance won't pay for it.   (There are exceptions to this like opiates, and it may vary by state.)

In 2016, I was taking a drug that I could get at Costco, 90 day supply for $16,  cash pay.  My insurance required pre-auth and limited it to 30 days with a $30 copay ($80 total cost at Walgreens).  It was Costco that told me I could get the whole 360 if I wanted to.  It was my doctor that told me to go to Costco.  You don't have to have a membership to get prescriptions at Costco. 

Most fill limits are cost reduction strategies set by the insurance companies.

(I did this before I had a HDHP.  When you have that, you also have to weigh not having the expense included in your OOP max.  I hate our system.)

^Yep. All of this.^

[frugalnacho]

Have you tried going through the marketplace?  I haven't done it , but I think if you go through healthcare.gov they send the application to your state and then the state contacts you.

Still getting hung up on when I try to call to get my account unlocked so I just went to healthcare.gov and submitted an application, and they forwarded to my state medicaid department.  I had to lie on it because it asks for your income this month, and then calculates out what your annual income is to see if you qualify.  I understand why they are doing that, but it's not really applicable to my situation so I just said it was $0 to calculate out $0 annual income since that's what I anticipate for February on.  Hopefully once I get in touch with a real person I can explain it all.

I hope they are timely and can get this resolved, because medicaid will be a completely different set of doctors for us, so I really don't want to have to have to get any medical care with no coverage and then try to get it resolved after the fact.  I've been planning this for a long time, but I would imagine most people are thrust into this situation and need coverage resolved pretty quickly.

I already received a health care coverage determination notice from the state of michigan saying all 4 of us are eligible.  I haven't read through it yet since I'm at work - my wife just sent me a picture of the first page.  Amazing considering I applied via healthcare.org like 4 days ago. Now I got 2 full weeks to get it sorted out before my current insurance expires. Thanks Obama!

[DaMa]

Hurray!  I'm interested to know how your experience goes with Medicaid. 

[goodmoneygoodlife]

Hey frugalnacho,
Sorry to hear about your work issues. To be honest, most (all) jobs suck, especially at big companies.

Though with roughly 800K even though you're not FIRE you should have enough runway, even for health insurance. A friend of mine quit his job and ended up paying roughly $800/mo with health insurance. I don't recall what insurance he got though.

In my experience, doing business is extraordinarily difficult. And might take a lot longer than you think to gain traction. If you've saved up 800K, you're probably a lot smarter than me though and can make it work. Though you may want to hedge you bets such that you:
1. Work on your business.
2. Continue interviewing for other jobs that's a less of a terrible fit on the side (all jobs suck, so it's just trying to find something that's the least terrible).

You may or may not get job offers -- but it's a good problem to worry about when you have optionality "do I work on business less + full time job, or do I ignore job offers unless it's $500K+, or do I accept job offer and still focus 100% on my business and ignore all job responsibilities?" I am more of the latter roflmao.

Entrepreneurship in the long run is the best bet. But it's quite hard. Best of luck.

[Cassie]

Wishing you all the best in starting your company.

[frugalnacho]

Have you tried going through the marketplace?  I haven't done it , but I think if you go through healthcare.gov they send the application to your state and then the state contacts you.

Still getting hung up on when I try to call to get my account unlocked so I just went to healthcare.gov and submitted an application, and they forwarded to my state medicaid department.  I had to lie on it because it asks for your income this month, and then calculates out what your annual income is to see if you qualify.  I understand why they are doing that, but it's not really applicable to my situation so I just said it was $0 to calculate out $0 annual income since that's what I anticipate for February on.  Hopefully once I get in touch with a real person I can explain it all.

I hope they are timely and can get this resolved, because medicaid will be a completely different set of doctors for us, so I really don't want to have to have to get any medical care with no coverage and then try to get it resolved after the fact.  I've been planning this for a long time, but I would imagine most people are thrust into this situation and need coverage resolved pretty quickly.

I already received a health care coverage determination notice from the state of michigan saying all 4 of us are eligible.  I haven't read through it yet since I'm at work - my wife just sent me a picture of the first page.  Amazing considering I applied via healthcare.org like 4 days ago. Now I got 2 full weeks to get it sorted out before my current insurance expires. Thanks Obama!

I had to call my local health department office.  I was given an email address to submit our social security cards for documentation, but they cannot help me unlock my online account.  Apparently only the IT help desk has that capability so I just have to keep calling them until I eventually get through.  They sent me our cards already.  I guess we don't just use these cards, but have to actually pick one of the insurance plans they offer.  I'm not sure how to do that without access to my online account.  I'll just keep calling in every hour of every day for the next 2 weeks and hopefully get it sorted out by February.

It's 2:15PM, my office is packed up, and all my work is done and offloaded.  I just need to sign out of my chrome profile on this browser and...walk out that door! 

[wkumtrider]

Frugalnacho,

I'm in the same line of work as you and I completely understand the frustration.  Environmental and safety is usually low on the priority list and it only gets attention when someone is seriously injured or fined.  I want to get out of the business all together and do something completely different.  I just don't know what to do, been doing this for over 20 years.

Good luck to you.

[frugalnacho]

One last bone job by my former employer.  Instead of paying out my vacation on my last check, which I specifically timed my resignation so I would receive my last check in January, they are going to pay out my vacation in February.  So my employment and medical insurance will end in January, but I will get a single check in February large enough to disqualify me from receiving medicaid for the month.

[Kathryn K.]

Former employer is a d*ck to the end. How is start-up of the  new business going?

[frugalnacho]

We've sent out 2 proposals.  Haven't officially received them back yet, but unofficially we are going to win them. 

At this point we are still getting things sorted out, like registering our name, talking to CPA, setting up bank accounts, getting required insurance, etc.  I've only been working on it for the last week so it's still in progress, but should be sorted out by next week.

Very hard to actually get any work done with kids at home though.  Going to have to institute some hard business hours and ban the rest of the family from my basement "office".