You can find like minded people in places that lean differently politically. I live in a red state and have had no trouble finding like minded people, including some who I disagree with politically.
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The cost of COBRA tells you the real cost of an employer-based plan.
Thanks, CT1417, bluebayou, and ucbalumnus, for clarifying re: the ACA plans and health history. I havenāt looked seriously into this (yet) - thinking of working for a number of more years, but want to plan for all kinds of scenariosā¦
Some like-minded people, mixed age folks, and beautiful nature are some of my top considerations for āStage 2ā location! If I switch jobs Iām hoping to meet people through a new position/professional community in new localeā¦in my field there are amazing people of all agesā¦
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Sure. But many people never get COBRA coverage. And how many people who do know what the costs will be before they sign up (or at least request info about) COBRA coverage?
Itās supposed to be in your W2 every year now.
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I donāt recall seeing one of those total compensation statements recently, but our company shows the company contribution at Open Enrollment time.
With your Medicare PPO plan, are you costs higher if you use a non-preferred medical provider?
If you are not yet Medicare age, note that what you personally may pay for an ACA individual plan may differ from what it costs your employer to buy you the same coverage, depending on whether your employerās demographics are high or low cost relative to what your age-based ACA individual plan cost may be.
https://healthcostinstitute.org/images/easyblog_articles/134/Age-Curve-Study_0.pdf shows the age / gender cost curves, although from 2002 and 2010 (pre-ACA). Todayās cost curves are probably similar, but at a higher level of cost.
Assuming you mean a Medicare Advantage PPO plan, it is expected, like with any PPO plan, that seeing an out-of-network provider will result in higher costs because:
- The copayment / deductible / out-of-pocket maximum will be higher.
- The out-of-network provider has not agreed to the insurance planās prices for the services, and the insurance planās coverage is based on the prices it negotiated with network providers. I.e. if the network provider price is $1,000, but the out-of-network providerās price is $10,000, and the insurance plan covers 60% at out-of-network providers, it will cover $600 (60% of the network provider price of $1,000), leaving you with a bill of $9,400.
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My Medicare Advantage PPO has no in and out of network. It is accepted by all doctors and medical providers who accept Medicare.
Soā¦there is no difference in and out of networkā¦.
Itās a very good plan.
Does that make sense?
@ucbalumnus all Medicare Advantage Plans are not the same, as you can see by my response.
Does it call itself a PPO (which means āpreferred provider organizationā, implying some kind of in-network versus not)?
Or is it saying that its āpreferred provider networkā is the set of Medicare-accepting providers (which is most, though not all, providers in the US) with no difference in coverage?
I sent you a message. This is off topic to this thread.
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When I used to visit my folks in Florida, my joke was that I was the āyoung, hot oneā. I was in my late 50ās at the time, LOL.
When we went to see S in SoCal we saw people of all ages and we loved that. Considering getting a AirBNB there for a awhile next winter.
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Oh, my friend and I were definitely the hotties in the building dh and I used to live in (friend is still there). The, āDel Boca Vistaā from Seinfeld is reality!
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I think like spouses, thereās a right one thatās perfect for you!
Maybe itās not the place for you but itās perfect for someone else.
23 years ago my parents retired to an area that they loved. I couldnāt imagine at the time being in a place where all of these āoldā people were. Well now Iām that age and where my parents are, most of the new residents are my age.
So like the commercial, maybe we are becoming our parents. Whether we want to or not. Maybe kicking and screaming.
I wonder if every generation kicks and screams into this age! 
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This!
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We are pre retirement scouting. Right now we are renting right outside of Boston, but our home is NC. Itās funny about weather because we often find Boston and Raleigh to have similar temperature- within a few degrees. While MA gets more snow they know how to deal with it, so it has not bothered us.
I also agree that there are so many interesting people we have met in MA. Itās nice to be around the Millennials and hear about their interesting jobs and their excitement for them. I find that too in Raleigh- might be a location for you to check out.
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I donāt believe in perfect or āa right oneā for spouses or places to live. There are a number of places I could live and be happy. And had circumstances been different, I would not have met my wife and would likely have met someone else and been happy with that life. And no way to evaluate which would have been better; just know that life would have been different than the one I have now.
Problem to me with chasing the perfect is when you find an imperfection, you are looking for someone/where else. Thats an endless chase.
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Lol! Maybe we couldāve met and been married!
People think I am so heartless for not believing in soulmates and one true love. Dude, if I go to a different college for grad school I wouldnāt have met dh. Take a different job at that college and likely wouldnāt have met dh. I love our house and neighbors and find it hard to imagine raising the kids anywhere else, but everyone but us has done that. 
I am willing to move wherever my grandkids are.
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I personally am not interested in living in an area of primarily like minded people. I think that would be boring. However, I do want to live in an area of mostly open minded people. Much more interesting conversations regardless of the topic.
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