when I sold the 'rents house in Jan (30-day close, no contingencies) in the hot Bay Area, it appeared that the appraisal was going to come in lower than the Buyer would like so they cancelled that appraisal prior to the report and ordered a second appraisal from a firm that my Agent knew. Number came in, and we still closed on time. Buyer paid for both appraisals.
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Property taxes are another factor in depressing the price of rentals in CA, relative to the cost of buying, since they may be vastly lower than 1% of the value of the home if the landlord has owned the property for many years.
It will be very difficult to find plans that will match the low deductibles and low OOP max that employer group plans can offer. You can go on the exchange for your state and look at what is offered. For my state, a policy for two people (me and spouse) will run from $22k-30k-ish for premium + deducible; there are even higher priced ones if you really want a lower deducible and OOP max. Most of the plans are HMO, and the cheaper ones restrict the network.
OTOH, COBRA costs for an employer plan can easily hit $30K, soâŚ
My company recently added a âhighâ deductible plan with an HSA (deductible is $3K, which is lower than many non-high deductible plans on the exchange). The COBRA cost for this is under $20K, so I switched to this plan and will keep it for as long as I can after I retire.
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There are no good answers. I plan to retire early and have just budgeted for very high premiums (at least $36k per year). It stinks.
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Thanks. Well, having some kind of finite ceiling is good. I mean, I pay a lot in property tax too. There are some family medical expenses that would leave me broke without coverage. I do expect to be working for a while, but maybe not all the way up to when I qualify for medicare.
For your actual employer coverage continued through COBRA, your employer probably has a full price for it (which is more than the employee contribution that you normally see after the employerâs contribution). Of course, COBRA only lasts for a limited time after leaving employment.
The other option would be ACA plans, whose prices you can find on the state ACA exchange if there is one (like Shop & Compare Health Insurance Plans | Covered California⢠in California) or the national ACA exchange if in a state without a state ACA exchange.
Military veterans may also want to check if they can get VA coverage.
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You canât.
Health insurance is the hardest part of retiring before medicare age.
Cost is not the issue. Thanks to ACA federal tax credits, cost for ACA insurance is actually low if you donât have much income.
So what is the issue then? The issue is provider network. Your employer-provided insurance will have a bigger provider network, and will include out-of-state providers. If you buy the same insurance from the same insurance company, your provider network will be smaller and will not include out-of-state providers.
Is it important to have out-of-state providers? Maybe, maybe not. Because of recent changes in law, if you have an emergency while traveling out of state, your insurance will cover it and you will not be balance-billed. For non-emergencies you get care from in-state providers.
But what if you have a serious health issue where the nationâs foremost experts are in Cleveland Clinic and you are not from Ohio? Well thatâs where the employer-provided insurance is better, because Cleveland Clinic is going to be in-network for you. If you bought insurance from the individual market then you will just have to make do with the best in-state doctors. I know someone who got an unusual tumor and the best doctor was in UCSD, and she flew to San Diego to get treatment, and she was able to do that because her employer-provided insurance had UCSD in the provider network.
Not knowing what your insurer will cover and what it wonât can be stressful. Consider this story where someone was hospitalized due to Covid. The bill for the 4-week stay came to $4 Million, even though the patient died. In his case, his insurance did cover it.
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That isnât true about network limitations. You can buy a nationwide policy.
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You absolutely can purchase nationwide coverage but it will be costly. I would suggest you find a health insurance broker who can give you your options.
Also, IIRC, plans on the exchange are individual plans, arenât they? Can you even buy a family plan? I donât know the answer.
RegardlessâŚyou likely can come close to duplicating your employer policyâŚbut it will be very costly!
From Obamacare market? I couldnât find any in WA state.
Extremely poor example, as the feds would have covered the covid expenses. But as others have noted, there are ACA plans that have broad networks. They are pricey but they exist. If one desires to save money, one (or their employer) chooses a local network.
Depends on your state, right? Some states may, some states have barely any options at all.
We have very very good employer based insurance. Providers such as the Cleveland Clinic would be out of our network.
We could still seek their advice. But it would be at the out of network coverage with a higher deductible and OOP costs.
My mom on Medicare has opted to not use a Medicare advantage plan and pays more so she can pick any physician that she wants.
She went to CCF recently for a medical issue that she has. Between her Medicare plan and supplement, her care is covered.
We have a high deductible plan and Iâve been really happy. But it does have limits as far as who we can see. It does have a network. BCBS of Michigan.
Hope I explained that correctly!
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I have a very high end group Medicare Advantage PPO plan that has no in and out of network. If a doc takes Medicare, they are required to take this plan. Anywhere in the country.
SoâŚeven this example of Medicare advantage plan coverage isnât uniformly true. Depends on the policy. Mine is a large group policyâŚwhich is likely why it is as good as it is.
I think a broker is the way to go. Iâve had several friends who sought a health insurance brokers advice and were very pleased with the options they were able to turn up.
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Yes you can absolutely buy insurance for your whole family. Individual market doesnât mean family is not covered. It is individual as in individual-purchase as opposed to group-purchase. When an entire group (such as all employees) purchase insurance, insurance companies have some assurance that some in the group will be healthy, which balances out unhealthy ones. In the individual market, it is going to be the unhealthy needy ones that are most likely to buy insurance, so the individual market sucks for both insurance companies and consumers.
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I know you can buy insurance for the whole familyâŚbut does the exchange have family plans?
yes
Pricey?
Depends on your income. If you have little income then it is cheap. But suckier than employer insurance because of narrower provider network.
That is if your employerâs insurance actually has a larger (and easy to understand) network than what individual plans available to you offer. Not all employers have plans with larger networks.
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