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.)[/quote]
The bolded portion of your statement is what I was referring to, UCGal. I realize flu likely isn’t eligible for tax credits. Since he is still young, I’m guessing that he can probably actually avail himself of the Platinum Plan for $500 mo (+/- $50).
I believe the details which were recently added to the covereca.com site regarding those four “Enhanced Silver” Plans are designed for those early retirees you are talking about – the 55+ boomer crowd who will likely qualify for tax credits.
My understanding is that a Covered CA applicant’s tax credits will be based upon the income they reported on their state tax return for 2012, unless they can prove it is substantially different now. The problem with CA private workers who are considering retiring on or before 12/31/13 or CA public workers considering retiring by 3/31/14 (to be eligible for the 2014 COLA) is that they will have a full year’s income as a “worker bee” on their 2013 tax return, which could keep them from becoming eligible for the credits until 2015. I don’t know how the exchanges are going to handle this issue, since ostensibly this group won’t be “employees” anymore and if they DO have a pension, it is likely nowhere near what their income was while working.
Gen X/Y should start REJOICING whilst contemplating applying for all those lofty job openings at your work that boomers will vacate come 2014. All because of the HCRA!!
