flu, you, all of people stand to be on the “winning side” of this HCRA equation if you retire early. Had the HCRA never become law, you might have been required to pay $2000+ month just for yourself for coverage (for a crappy HMO) :=0
Go check out coveredca.com and quit complaining.[/quote]
Actually – FLU will likely not qualify for subsidies based on his income. Subsidies (tax credits) only apply to those with income < 4 times poverty level. And it's MAGI, not AGI income. (MAGI income = your AGI income PLUS your 401k/IRA contributions.)
That said - I suspect FLU will benefit because of the ban on pre-existing conditions. He's relatively young - and premiums are based on age. His medical issues will not jack his rates up or allow insurers to not insure him.
This will give FLU the opportunity to do consulting, entrepreneurial ventures, etc - and not be tied to an employer for healthcare.
As far as retirees - Any non-government retiree that was firmly counting on retiree healthcare hasn't paid attention for the past decade. It's gone away along with pensions. And it was NEVER protected under PBGC, the way pensions were.
I know a lot of folks on the early-retirement.org board who are waiting till October to verify the exchange rates - then turning in their notices at work... Access to insurance for the early retiree has been the big crap shoot preventing people who would otherwise retire from doing so.
Lots of discussion over on that board about 4x poverty rate thing (and the cliff on the other side if you don't manage it right.) How that effects the roth conversion plans (don't convert to roth because it might kick you above that threshold.)
