I think you're confusing "Medicare" for "Medicaid", and "Out of Pocket Max" with "Deductible".
But yes, Obamacare healthcare really is that expensive. Roughly half of the country gets their coverage through an employer, and so they're shielded from the full cost of their coverage.
The US Healthcare model assumes that you will be some combination of destitute/on your parent's plan/employed between ages 18 and 65. It wasn't designed to cover people who are retiring early to pursue leisure. The ACA at the very least, provides a guaranteed issue option so you can't be denied coverage if you're already sick. But if you're not sufficiently low income enough, you'll have to pay the full cost.
Unless something substantial changes, I would plan on working a little longer if I were you. But this is the unfortunate "other side of the coin" that is living in a country with low taxes and ample tax sheltering for investments.
Yes, healthcare of all kinds is the single biggest barrier to us seriously considering early retirement as well. An re: the highlighted text...I think a lot of people truly don't realize just how expensive American health insurance is b/c so much cost is often borne by the employer.
Consider this: We are 2 adults, 0 kids, covered through the 'standard' health insurance plan for federal employees (there are a couple cheaper options, which we don't use b/c of my chronic health conditions).
Now, keep in mind that this is the same plan that Members of Congress used (and paid for) in the pre ACA days, and is frequently the subject of rage-filled memes complaining about how politicians or federal employees get 'cadillac' plans or 'free health care' while the rest of the nation has to suffer.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with this insurance plan and have no major complaints about it. But free it ain't. We pay a 700$ deductible, copay of $25-35/visit, 15% of costs of in network tests/procedures, etc., and 10-50% of the cost of drugs. Our premiums are just under $6,700/year BUT the gov't picks up almost $13,000 of the premium costs.
So total premiums for two people are ~$1,620/month. Even with the employer picking up most of that, we often spend close to 10K/year on healthcare, between insurance and actual medical bills.
Needless to say, DH and I are well aware that we might need to be budgeting an additional 20K/year for costs related to healthcare/health insurance into our projected retirement budget, were we to retire early.
And of course, that doesn't even address the giant elephant in the room of potentially needing long term care at some point.
It's a real challenge, for sure.
