I have no idea how families that earn less than $100k are saving enough money for healthcare expenses / loss of income in their years between 50 and 65 (or whatever age Medicare will start at in the future).
Unless you have a cushy government job with those benefits or a high paying white collar job, those years are the most likely for you to lose income due to age, health reasons, etc and any new job you get probably won’t have any benefits, or decent ones.
With ACA that’s only really a problem for those just over the income cliff. Health insurance costs after subsidy for most retired folks pulling, say, 50k-60k or so per year from retirement accounts and social security are pretty low.
Social security does not (currently) start until 62 or 63, and that’s with a hefty reduction in benefit. I expect by the time I retire, full benefits won’t be available until 75 or something, and it will be means tested (and/or the value of the benefit decreased via decreasing value of USD).
I do not know what the ACA subsidies are for people, but the ~$17k annual out of pocket maximum is what kills you. A single heart attack or stroke at the end of the year will cost you $34k (assuming you need healthcare in two calendar years today, who knows how much 2 decades in the future).
Plus, of course, surprise bills from out of network providers.
OOP maximums can be the real killer for those with chronic conditions. But at lower to middle income levels even OOP max isn’t always that bad in ACA plans.
OOP max is just a trade off for higher premiums. Either you pay more per month for lower OOP max, or you pay more when the healthcare expenses happens. They’re all actuarially equivalent, per the metal levels of ACA.
If anything, people should chose the high deductible high OOP max HSA plan so you can take advantage of tax benefits.
Interesting, did not know about that. But 250% of federal poverty level is
> For coverage effective in 2021, 250 percent of the federal poverty level in the continental U.S. is $31,900 for a single individual, $54,300 for a family of three, and $87,900 for a family of six. (These amounts are higher in Alaska and Hawaii, since they have higher federal poverty levels).
That’s rough for a household of two, especially if they live in a high tax state.
Since I am a health economist, I can tell you that it is subject to many of the same problems other goods face: prices increase and this is generally observable (though much harder in healthcare than other areas!), while quality improves all the time but measuring quality is quite hard, perhaps also harder than in other classes of goods.
My dads carefully planned retirement was ruined because he never imagined how expensive it would get.
I pay 1400 a month for a family. Still doesn’t cover a lot.