Health insurance in your 40's

[Pomegranate12]

I'm interested in FIRE, I feel like we were put on this planet for more than this rat Race.

My fear and question is what do I do for health insurance, is anyone here using ACA, how much are you paying ?

[seattlecyclone]

Every county has a different set of plans available, for different prices. Then there are subsidies based on income. The answer to your question is very much "it depends."

For example in my county nine companies sell insurance on the ACA marketplace, with 54 total plans available. A single, childless 40-year-old with $30k income would pay anywhere from $0-524/month on premiums depending on which plan they choose, while if they had a $300k income the premium would range from $286-919/month.

[deborah]

Note that seattlecyclone said COUNTY not COUNTRY, and lives in the USA too.

[Pomegranate12]

Note that seattlecyclone said COUNTY not COUNTRY, and lives in the USA too.

Sorry just saw that

[swashbucklinstache]

The good news is you can go to healthcare.gov and find out what people pay today by age and income. Some states don't change the price by age, so check a few in case you move. Anyone's guess if these costs will inflate in line with general inflation or not.

Just like any insurance, you should be prepared to find that some medicines aren't covered. Some states have plans that don't cover all that much. Keep in mind that insurance doesn't cover things you may find you newly need, like grocery delivery or repairs you'd formerly DIY. If you travel a lot within the US for long periods you may desire travel insurance if you don't have a nationwide plan. Be mindful of MAGI and Medicaid and if you're flirting with that line check if you're in a Medicaid expansion state.

[sonofsven]

If you have generally low spend on your health care costs, your 40's is a great time to utilize a high deductible health plan HSA (health savings account) qualified ACA plan and contribute the maximum every year into an HSA, and invest the HSA into an index fund.
https://youtu.be/xn6FtTZYeWE?si=DqYM5C2FdkyHx4xs

[Glenstache]

I'm on an ACA plan and pay about $400/mo for just me at 48.

[Wintergreen78]

I didn’t work for three years in my early 40’s. I’m in California. I went through the county health office, which determined I should be on Medi-Cal, because I did not have “regular” income. So, I did not pay any premiums.

It was strange, and I explained I had assets and would have dividends and capital gains as income. I found the county health department to do good job of walking me through the sign-up process though.

[NotJen]

My fear and question is what do I do for health insurance, is anyone here using ACA, how much are you paying ?

I’m using ACA.  44yo, MAGI~$20k, $0/mo (Silver plan completely covered by subsidy).

As stated, you can play with the ACA website (or your state’s equivalent), and see what it will be for your age, income, and location.

[spartana]

OP are you a military veteran? If so you can see if you can qualify to use the VA medical services. I use the VA myself and found it to be pretty good.

Otherwise the ACA is likely your best bet if you are within it MAGI income range to receive subsidies. Or Medicaid if in an expanded state and your MAGI income is low. Those states don't count assets just taxable income. Check your states ACA site and input your planned numbers and see what options you have. If you have family - kids and/or spouse - I believe they have family plans that are less expensive and offer more subsidies then for I individual medical insurance.

There's also expensive COBRA coverage that allows you to stay on your former employers plan for at least 18 months (sometimes longer).

[jim555]

Retired 10 years now, between Medicaid and NY Essential Plan haven't paid anything so far.

[MrGreen]

In general, the formula for calculating health insurance premiums through the ACA amounts to something between 0% and 8.5% of your Modified Adjusted Gross Income for the year as long as your income is 400% or less of the Federal Poverty Level for your family size. It's a sliding scale that starts at 0% and increases as your income gets larger. The subsidy amount is calculated for the second lowest cost Silver plan available to you. If you choose less expensive insurance, like a Bronze plan, you pay even less because the subsidy remains the same. The income cap for subsidies at 400% of the Federal Poverty Level has been temporarily suspended through 2025 but without action from Congress it will return in 2026.

[dandarc]

We pay full price on the exchange. Current plan is a gold HMO at $1,042 / month for 41/43 year old adults and no kids. This is probably the best insurance I've ever had in my life - very little cost for anything outside of the premiums.

But we're moving - somewhat comparable health insurance with acceptable network in the new place is a gold EPO at $1363 / month. We may dial this in as we have more experience there, but still acceptable for us. If only they had a well established HMO there to provide real competition to Blue Cross like we do in the current city, but it just is what it is - pick from the available options that you can use at your usual (or likely) doctors and hope for the best.

If I ever decide to cut work back to where we get subsidies, we could do a whole lot better on price than this.

[Much Fishing to Do]

We pay full price on the exchange. Current plan is a gold HMO at $1,042 / month for 41/43 year old adults and no kids. This is probably the best insurance I've ever had in my life - very little cost for anything outside of the premiums.

But we're moving - somewhat comparable health insurance with acceptable network in the new place is a gold EPO at $1363 / month. We may dial this in as we have more experience there, but still acceptable for us. If only they had a well established HMO there to provide real competition to Blue Cross like we do in the current city, but it just is what it is - pick from the available options that you can use at your usual (or likely) doctors and hope for the best.

If I ever decide to cut work back to where we get subsidies, we could do a whole lot better on price than this.

I was paying full price when self-employed and very high income which had gotten to $2300/mth for family of 5 with me @ 50.  But just playing around with the ACA calculators it became clear I'd pay very little in FIRE, and given FIRE income is somewhat pliable, even close to zero if I forced it.  The numbers move around a lot but I basically knew I could assume $2k/mth less in health ins costs when I FIREd, which of course knocks out our largest single expense.  I've taken a half-time job that offered me insurance but I always have that lower ACA costs in the back of my head when figuring FIRE expenses.  But of course the program could always change.

[rantk81]

Venting:

Looking for what the unsubsidized cost would be for the cheapest premium ACA plan for my spouse and I (both mid 40s) would be in my zip code:

$1053/month premium, and $18,800 deductible ($18,900 out of pocket max... The extra $100 difference for lulz I guess?)  ... for an HMO plan that requires referrals for everything and has a hyper-local doctor network (and only a small number of providers in network.)

That would put us to spending over $31,400 /yr of spending, before the insurance would pay for anything... and that's assuming we would somehow not "accidentally" or "unintentionally" get an out-of-network bill (say, the doctor sends an X-Ray to someone to write the report about it, who isn't in the network, and who I never had the choice of.  Or any random number of reasons why claims get processed out of network or denied.)


God help us if the law changes ever to take the subsidies away, I guess....  This whole garbage system needs to be imploded.

[reeshau]

That would put us to spending over $31,400 /yr of spending, before the insurance would pay for anything... and that's assuming we would somehow not "accidentally" or "unintentionally" get an out-of-network bill (say, the doctor sends an X-Ray to someone to write the report about it, who isn't in the network, and who I never had the choice of.  Or any random number of reasons why claims get processed out of network or denied.)

Surprise billing is now illegal nationally.  That isn't to say they won't try and bill you.   But, you can complain to your insurance carrier, and they should correct it.

[rantk81]

That would put us to spending over $31,400 /yr of spending, before the insurance would pay for anything... and that's assuming we would somehow not "accidentally" or "unintentionally" get an out-of-network bill (say, the doctor sends an X-Ray to someone to write the report about it, who isn't in the network, and who I never had the choice of.  Or any random number of reasons why claims get processed out of network or denied.)

Surprise billing is now illegal nationally.  That isn't to say they won't try and bill you.   But, you can complain to your insurance carrier, and they should correct it.

Yeah.  But the insurance company has a LOT MORE EXPERIENCE at trying to screw you out of your benefits, than you have at trying to fight the insurance company.  It's never easy. It's never pleasant.  And it rarely works the way it should, the first time, without you having to waste a ton of time and effort.

[Loren Ver]

DH and I are both in our 40s.  We are in the midwest. 

We pay $114 for a silver plan and keep our income so we get both subsidies and the highly desirable Cost Sharing Reduction!  The CSR is very much worth it, it cuts the deductible and the out of pocket max.  We don't get the highest CSR, but a very good one. 

Our costs are usually lower, but we went with a plan with dental, vision, and a fitness coverage.  Really living it up this year. 

We also pick the insurer that has our preferred doctors in it, which is never the cheapest choice.  I like my doctor, and I'm not giving up 15+ years of good doctoring to save a few tens of or even hundreds of dollars.  I'm way to rich for that non-sense. 

I use the kff.org calculator (https://www.kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/)
when I need to do some fast calculations.  They are pretty close, but not to the dollar. 

We have had silver plans as low as the $20 range and as high as $114.  We always do silver to get the CSR.

Loren

[Ron Scott]

Venting:

Looking for what the unsubsidized cost would be for the cheapest premium ACA plan for my spouse and I (both mid 40s) would be in my zip code:

$1053/month premium, and $18,800 deductible ($18,900 out of pocket max... The extra $100 difference for lulz I guess?)  ... for an HMO plan that requires referrals for everything and has a hyper-local doctor network (and only a small number of providers in network.)

That would put us to spending over $31,400 /yr of spending, before the insurance would pay for anything... and that's assuming we would somehow not "accidentally" or "unintentionally" get an out-of-network bill (say, the doctor sends an X-Ray to someone to write the report about it, who isn't in the network, and who I never had the choice of.  Or any random number of reasons why claims get processed out of network or denied.)


God help us if the law changes ever to take the subsidies away, I guess....  This whole garbage system needs to be imploded.

Amen.

I was on Obamacare for a couple years and hated it. The best thing you can say about it is “it’s something”. 

[reeshau]

We also pick the insurer that has our preferred doctors in it, which is never the cheapest choice.  I like my doctor, and I'm not giving up 15+ years of good doctoring to save a few tens of or even hundreds of dollars.  I'm way to rich for that non-sense. 

That is my approach, too.  We don't have quite that history in place, but we're working on it.  We already had to switch doctor's once, because doctors were leaving our old plan.  But we look for doctor / hospital / drug coverage first, then look at cost model.

How spoiled we were when everything was just BCBS, and we presumed coverage would follow when we went to see a specialist in Chicago!

[sonofsven]

Venting:

Looking for what the unsubsidized cost would be for the cheapest premium ACA plan for my spouse and I (both mid 40s) would be in my zip code:

$1053/month premium, and $18,800 deductible ($18,900 out of pocket max... The extra $100 difference for lulz I guess?)  ... for an HMO plan that requires referrals for everything and has a hyper-local doctor network (and only a small number of providers in network.)

That would put us to spending over $31,400 /yr of spending, before the insurance would pay for anything... and that's assuming we would somehow not "accidentally" or "unintentionally" get an out-of-network bill (say, the doctor sends an X-Ray to someone to write the report about it, who isn't in the network, and who I never had the choice of.  Or any random number of reasons why claims get processed out of network or denied.)


God help us if the law changes ever to take the subsidies away, I guess....  This whole garbage system needs to be imploded.

Amen.

I was on Obamacare for a couple years and hated it. The best thing you can say about it is “it’s something”.

The ACA has been amazing for me. Of course, being self employed, I have had the responsibility to self insure for nearly thirty years. I have found most people who complain about the ACA are doing so from a position of having employer coverage available.
For those of us who don't have that privilege, it has been life changing.
I keep my income low and have a silver plan with CSR's, my policy costs $2.50/month, I have a $2000 deductible. I just had a hip replaced and my total OOP for all the appointments, PT, pain management visits (3) aka steroid shots, and the joint replacement is $2,000, plus a few co-pays.
Thanks, Obama!

[wageslave23]

Venting:

Looking for what the unsubsidized cost would be for the cheapest premium ACA plan for my spouse and I (both mid 40s) would be in my zip code:

$1053/month premium, and $18,800 deductible ($18,900 out of pocket max... The extra $100 difference for lulz I guess?)  ... for an HMO plan that requires referrals for everything and has a hyper-local doctor network (and only a small number of providers in network.)

That would put us to spending over $31,400 /yr of spending, before the insurance would pay for anything... and that's assuming we would somehow not "accidentally" or "unintentionally" get an out-of-network bill (say, the doctor sends an X-Ray to someone to write the report about it, who isn't in the network, and who I never had the choice of.  Or any random number of reasons why claims get processed out of network or denied.)


God help us if the law changes ever to take the subsidies away, I guess....  This whole garbage system needs to be imploded.

Amen.

I was on Obamacare for a couple years and hated it. The best thing you can say about it is “it’s something”.

The ACA has been amazing for me. Of course, being self employed, I have had the responsibility to self insure for nearly thirty years. I have found most people who complain about the ACA are doing so from a position of having employer coverage available.
For those of us who don't have that privilege, it has been life changing.
I keep my income low and have a silver plan with CSR's, my policy costs $2.50/month, I have a $2000 deductible. I just had a hip replaced and my total OOP for all the appointments, PT, pain management visits (3) aka steroid shots, and the joint replacement is $2,000, plus a few co-pays.
Thanks, Obama!

It's great if you're a freeloader (I hope to be soon).  Not so much if you don't get subsidies. 

[Ron Scott]

Venting:

Looking for what the unsubsidized cost would be for the cheapest premium ACA plan for my spouse and I (both mid 40s) would be in my zip code:

$1053/month premium, and $18,800 deductible ($18,900 out of pocket max... The extra $100 difference for lulz I guess?)  ... for an HMO plan that requires referrals for everything and has a hyper-local doctor network (and only a small number of providers in network.)

That would put us to spending over $31,400 /yr of spending, before the insurance would pay for anything... and that's assuming we would somehow not "accidentally" or "unintentionally" get an out-of-network bill (say, the doctor sends an X-Ray to someone to write the report about it, who isn't in the network, and who I never had the choice of.  Or any random number of reasons why claims get processed out of network or denied.)


God help us if the law changes ever to take the subsidies away, I guess....  This whole garbage system needs to be imploded.

Amen.

I was on Obamacare for a couple years and hated it. The best thing you can say about it is “it’s something”.

The ACA has been amazing for me. Of course, being self employed, I have had the responsibility to self insure for nearly thirty years. I have found most people who complain about the ACA are doing so from a position of having employer coverage available.
For those of us who don't have that privilege, it has been life changing.
I keep my income low and have a silver plan with CSR's, my policy costs $2.50/month, I have a $2000 deductible. I just had a hip replaced and my total OOP for all the appointments, PT, pain management visits (3) aka steroid shots, and the joint replacement is $2,000, plus a few co-pays.
Thanks, Obama!

It's great if you're a freeloader (I hope to be soon).  Not so much if you don't get subsidies.

It is good to have goals in life…

What i disliked about Obamacare, vs. Medicare as a point of comparison, is that it was dedicated pretty hard at the state level (I flew to NY from Florida once when what i thought was a bad cold turned put to be Lyme disease) and was set up as an HMO (which feels like playing Russian Roulette). Also, I suppose keeping the insurance model helped sell it in congress, and there was at least some pushback on cost spiral, but that additional level of oversight provided predictable annoyance too.

People it was intended for, who honestly can’t afford an alternative, as well as strategic freeloaders, get a good deal tho.

[jim555]

Retired 10 years this year, haven't paid a dime.  Thanks Obama!

[bacchi]

The ACA has been amazing for me. Of course, being self employed, I have had the responsibility to self insure for nearly thirty years. I have found most people who complain about the ACA are doing so from a position of having employer coverage available.

Yep. When you had an employer plan, you didn't have to worry about exclusions or plan rescission ("Rescission? What's that?"). The hella expensive state health care pool -- if your state had one -- wasn't on your radar because you couldn't be dropped mid-year when you got breast cancer and the treatment cuts into profits too much.*

Good times.



* https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna36711197

[ixtap]

Make sure you look into COBRA when it is available to you. While many plans will be crazy expensive, self insured employers will often be similar price to ACA options with better coverage.

[sonofsven]

Venting:

Looking for what the unsubsidized cost would be for the cheapest premium ACA plan for my spouse and I (both mid 40s) would be in my zip code:

$1053/month premium, and $18,800 deductible ($18,900 out of pocket max... The extra $100 difference for lulz I guess?)  ... for an HMO plan that requires referrals for everything and has a hyper-local doctor network (and only a small number of providers in network.)

That would put us to spending over $31,400 /yr of spending, before the insurance would pay for anything... and that's assuming we would somehow not "accidentally" or "unintentionally" get an out-of-network bill (say, the doctor sends an X-Ray to someone to write the report about it, who isn't in the network, and who I never had the choice of.  Or any random number of reasons why claims get processed out of network or denied.)


God help us if the law changes ever to take the subsidies away, I guess....  This whole garbage system needs to be imploded.

Amen.

I was on Obamacare for a couple years and hated it. The best thing you can say about it is “it’s something”.

The ACA has been amazing for me. Of course, being self employed, I have had the responsibility to self insure for nearly thirty years. I have found most people who complain about the ACA are doing so from a position of having employer coverage available.
For those of us who don't have that privilege, it has been life changing.
I keep my income low and have a silver plan with CSR's, my policy costs $2.50/month, I have a $2000 deductible. I just had a hip replaced and my total OOP for all the appointments, PT, pain management visits (3) aka steroid shots, and the joint replacement is $2,000, plus a few co-pays.
Thanks, Obama!

It's great if you're a freeloader (I hope to be soon).  Not so much if you don't get subsidies.

Freeloader? Interesting choice of language. Like I said, I've been responsible for paying for my own insurance for nearly thirty years, not sure how that makes me a freeloader.
And I disagree strongly with your take that it's not so great without subsidies.
Do you realize what the private insurance market was like before the ACA? You could get dropped at any time, and you could be denied coverage for any number of pre existing conditions.
People with employer provided insurance are part of a much bigger pool of insured, and get a much better deal, than those of us going it alone.
So, in short, eff off with that freeloader comment.

[spartana]

Venting:

Looking for what the unsubsidized cost would be for the cheapest premium ACA plan for my spouse and I (both mid 40s) would be in my zip code:

$1053/month premium, and $18,800 deductible ($18,900 out of pocket max... The extra $100 difference for lulz I guess?)  ... for an HMO plan that requires referrals for everything and has a hyper-local doctor network (and only a small number of providers in network.)

That would put us to spending over $31,400 /yr of spending, before the insurance would pay for anything... and that's assuming we would somehow not "accidentally" or "unintentionally" get an out-of-network bill (say, the doctor sends an X-Ray to someone to write the report about it, who isn't in the network, and who I never had the choice of.  Or any random number of reasons why claims get processed out of network or denied.)


God help us if the law changes ever to take the subsidies away, I guess....  This whole garbage system needs to be imploded.

Amen.

I was on Obamacare for a couple years and hated it. The best thing you can say about it is “it’s something”.

The ACA has been amazing for me. Of course, being self employed, I have had the responsibility to self insure for nearly thirty years. I have found most people who complain about the ACA are doing so from a position of having employer coverage available.
For those of us who don't have that privilege, it has been life changing.
I keep my income low and have a silver plan with CSR's, my policy costs $2.50/month, I have a $2000 deductible. I just had a hip replaced and my total OOP for all the appointments, PT, pain management visits (3) aka steroid shots, and the joint replacement is $2,000, plus a few co-pays.
Thanks, Obama!

It's great if you're a freeloader (I hope to be soon).  Not so much if you don't get subsidies.

Freeloader? Interesting choice of language. Like I said, I've been responsible for paying for my own insurance for nearly thirty years, not sure how that makes me a freeloader.
And I disagree strongly with your take that it's not so great without subsidies.
Do you realize what the private insurance market was like before the ACA? You could get dropped at any time, and you could be denied coverage for any number of pre existing conditions.
People with employer provided insurance are part of a much bigger pool of insured, and get a much better deal, than those of us going it alone.
So, in short, eff off with that freeloader comment.

Ditto to this! People have such short memories when it comes to what private non-employer health insurance was like before the ACA - which is only about 10 years old. Being unable to get insurance or potentially getting dumped from your health insurance due to some totally random thing that happened to you like a broken leg years before because it was considered a "pre-existing condition" and thus you were not insurable sucked.  Always afraid to even go to a doctor because, if they find something...anything... you won't be able to get insurance in the future. It wasn't even the cost - which was prohibitively expensive for most people who found themselves unemployed or unable to work like those many millions and their family during the GFC - but the fear that you'll be denied coverage when needed.

While I'm not a big supporter of certain aspects of the ACA it is a huge move in the right direction and no one needs to fear loss of coverage anymore if they have a life threatening disease or injury. I FIREd about 10 years before the ACA was useable in 2014 and went on my works COBRA plan then to a very high deductible BCBS plan I paid for. If I didn't have backup healthcare plan (the VA in my case) I doubt I would have gone to a doctor or FIREd due to fear of losing health insurance.

[wageslave23]

Venting:

Looking for what the unsubsidized cost would be for the cheapest premium ACA plan for my spouse and I (both mid 40s) would be in my zip code:

$1053/month premium, and $18,800 deductible ($18,900 out of pocket max... The extra $100 difference for lulz I guess?)  ... for an HMO plan that requires referrals for everything and has a hyper-local doctor network (and only a small number of providers in network.)

That would put us to spending over $31,400 /yr of spending, before the insurance would pay for anything... and that's assuming we would somehow not "accidentally" or "unintentionally" get an out-of-network bill (say, the doctor sends an X-Ray to someone to write the report about it, who isn't in the network, and who I never had the choice of.  Or any random number of reasons why claims get processed out of network or denied.)


God help us if the law changes ever to take the subsidies away, I guess....  This whole garbage system needs to be imploded.

Amen.

I was on Obamacare for a couple years and hated it. The best thing you can say about it is “it’s something”.

The ACA has been amazing for me. Of course, being self employed, I have had the responsibility to self insure for nearly thirty years. I have found most people who complain about the ACA are doing so from a position of having employer coverage available.
For those of us who don't have that privilege, it has been life changing.
I keep my income low and have a silver plan with CSR's, my policy costs $2.50/month, I have a $2000 deductible. I just had a hip replaced and my total OOP for all the appointments, PT, pain management visits (3) aka steroid shots, and the joint replacement is $2,000, plus a few co-pays.
Thanks, Obama!

It's great if you're a freeloader (I hope to be soon).  Not so much if you don't get subsidies.

Freeloader? Interesting choice of language. Like I said, I've been responsible for paying for my own insurance for nearly thirty years, not sure how that makes me a freeloader.
And I disagree strongly with your take that it's not so great without subsidies.
Do you realize what the private insurance market was like before the ACA? You could get dropped at any time, and you could be denied coverage for any number of pre existing conditions.
People with employer provided insurance are part of a much bigger pool of insured, and get a much better deal, than those of us going it alone.
So, in short, eff off with that freeloader comment.

Man, how about a little ability to not take everything so seriously.  I specifically threw myself in there. I am planning to be a "freeloader" in a couple years. Damn - relax. My point is, of course those who are getting something for a highly subsidized amount like it. The people who are paying full price are the only ones I ever hear complain. While I am having to pay full price, I would much rather go back to my premiums which were less than half with a deductible that was also less than half what it currently is. But when I reduce my taxable income enough to qualify for free or low premiums, then I'll love it. Pretty simple.

[sonofsven]

Venting:

Looking for what the unsubsidized cost would be for the cheapest premium ACA plan for my spouse and I (both mid 40s) would be in my zip code:

$1053/month premium, and $18,800 deductible ($18,900 out of pocket max... The extra $100 difference for lulz I guess?)  ... for an HMO plan that requires referrals for everything and has a hyper-local doctor network (and only a small number of providers in network.)

That would put us to spending over $31,400 /yr of spending, before the insurance would pay for anything... and that's assuming we would somehow not "accidentally" or "unintentionally" get an out-of-network bill (say, the doctor sends an X-Ray to someone to write the report about it, who isn't in the network, and who I never had the choice of.  Or any random number of reasons why claims get processed out of network or denied.)


God help us if the law changes ever to take the subsidies away, I guess....  This whole garbage system needs to be imploded.

Amen.

I was on Obamacare for a couple years and hated it. The best thing you can say about it is “it’s something”.

The ACA has been amazing for me. Of course, being self employed, I have had the responsibility to self insure for nearly thirty years. I have found most people who complain about the ACA are doing so from a position of having employer coverage available.
For those of us who don't have that privilege, it has been life changing.
I keep my income low and have a silver plan with CSR's, my policy costs $2.50/month, I have a $2000 deductible. I just had a hip replaced and my total OOP for all the appointments, PT, pain management visits (3) aka steroid shots, and the joint replacement is $2,000, plus a few co-pays.
Thanks, Obama!

It's great if you're a freeloader (I hope to be soon).  Not so much if you don't get subsidies.

Freeloader? Interesting choice of language. Like I said, I've been responsible for paying for my own insurance for nearly thirty years, not sure how that makes me a freeloader.
And I disagree strongly with your take that it's not so great without subsidies.
Do you realize what the private insurance market was like before the ACA? You could get dropped at any time, and you could be denied coverage for any number of pre existing conditions.
People with employer provided insurance are part of a much bigger pool of insured, and get a much better deal, than those of us going it alone.
So, in short, eff off with that freeloader comment.

Man, how about a little ability to not take everything so seriously.  I specifically threw myself in there. I am planning to be a "freeloader" in a couple years. Damn - relax. My point is, of course those who are getting something for a highly subsidized amount like it. The people who are paying full price are the only ones I ever hear complain. While I am having to pay full price, I would much rather go back to my premiums which were less than half with a deductible that was also less than half what it currently is. But when I reduce my taxable income enough to qualify for free or low premiums, then I'll love it. Pretty simple.

Describe yourself how you like, but don't include me in your freeloader description. I've never had a cush job that pays big bucks that I complain about and want to retire early from, I'm out here busting my ass building things.

[Must_ache]

I'm wife and I are 52-54.  I put down an income of $45K and was able to get a gold plan here in Iowa limited to the UnityPoint network (which is sizable) for $20/mo which was significantly cheaper than the alternatives.  But I would have been happier with a lesser plan.