As I am planning for retirement at the end of the year…my wife and I will be in our early 50s. I know there are others on he board that retired well before being Medicare eligible. What options did you research or select? I can manipulate my taxable income in order to get subsidies for ACA plans, but are there better options? Private? I also thought about doing COBRA for the 18 months after I leave my job…
I’m interested to hear others strategies. If you rely on Obamacare subsidies, you must be 100%-400% of the poverty line in your area. You have 15 years of managing your income for this strategy.
Income isn’t a problem because my real estate portfolio produces plenty. I get to offset a lot of it with depreciation, so my taxable income is much lower.
COBRA would have to be the worst option I can think of, unless your current employer doesn’t contribute much to your insurance.
I retired at 61 from a state job and if I was drawing the pension (I was) then they had to offer me the insurance I had until I turned 65. They just wouldn’t subsidize it. I kept my old insurance but I paid $800 per month instead of the $60 I paid while working.
A couple of years in I thougth of using the marketplace and called a navigator. This guy was honest with me and said if you like the coverage that you have, it’s best to keep it. While there were cheaper options available in the marketplace, those are pretty limited in scope. It wasn’t fun paying $800 and I survived.
I pretty much did COBRA because the county had very good insurance.