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medical insurance alone for a middle class couple can easily hit 10-20k
That's extremely cheap for a retirement-aged couple. For myself and my wife, the cheapest bronze plan in the place we'd like to retire is just over $40k/year in premiums, with deductibles of $5k/$10k.
it does not count out of pockets or deductibles . i was paying 12k a year for my wife and i pre medicare in ny for a silver plan with a 4000 deductible and 4500 out of pocket EACH
You don't have to stick around the US. There are plenty of places to live that have a COL low enough to live pretty well if you don't need a luxury lifestyle. And really -- who needs this? The political environment is horrible and the proposed tax reform will make things worse for seniors and middle income people.
That is our plan. People always ask about health care. In many countries, private health insurance and the actual costs of medical care are so much lower than the US, that it's a toss up with Medicare expenses. I'm going to hold out long enough to get a higher amount of social security, but am really looking forward to it. My family members love traveling and would be happy to have someone to visit abroad.
Many areas, particularly liberal coastal cities, provide enough social benefits that the poor there can live quite nicely. The middle class is largely being forced out and the major cities are becoming playgrounds for the affluent and the subsidized poor.
Being amongst the subsidized poor in a big city is not what I call a playground.
Again though this is largely a matter of market not politics. The affluent want to live in attractive areas. Places that provide the best opportunities and yes that's the coast. Problem?
actually medicaid is not just for the poor . many with assets are able to generate incomes from various sources that just make their taxable income appear low .
had i planned better for 62-65 when i retired i could have pulled a 100k plus income a year tax free and qualified for medicaid until i was 65 . not that i would have , but don't assume those on medicaid health insurance are poor . there is no asset limitation for medicaid health insurance.
There definitely is an asset limit in NY for Medicaid health insurance, but there are some exceptions. Anyone who loses a job and collects unemployment insurance gets one year of Medicaid health insurance, regardless of assets. They could be a billionaire, NY state doesn't check. And, if they get a job and their unemployment payments stop, the Medicaid still continues for the whole year! You could be a billionaire making millions a year, and still be on Medicaid! In NY state.
Aside from the unemployment situation, Medicaid applicants can have up to $840k in home equity, but can only have $14,850 in countable assets.
it does not count out of pockets or deductibles . i was paying 12k a year for my wife and i pre medicare in ny for a silver plan with a 4000 deductible and 4500 out of pocket EACH
I just looked up the cost of a bronze plan in CO, assuming we are five years older than we are today and retiring in our early 60s. The premiums for the year (total for both of us) would be $40,440. Each of us would have a $5000 deductible, and each would have max out-of-pocket of $7350. That's already so unaffordable that I'd either just carry on working or go without insurance. It's hard to imagine what might happen in five years' time.
If you live in a liberal state the poor elderly can end up as well as those who saved.
The thing people forget is that quality of life in retirement really is relative. My mother's friend ended up on Medicaid before retirement. She once had been wealthy and lived well for many years before a divorce and bad choices rendered her otherwise. Her kids scrounged up enough money to get her a trailer in a nice 55+ community. She had free medical plus had a subsidized income. Because of breathing issues Medicaid even paid for a maid to come twice a month to clean her place. She spent her time going to senior outings sponsored by the city's parks and rec department, would go to church activities, or even lay by her community pool. She focused her life around her kids and grandkids, knitting them nice items and volunteering for a few charities. Eventually she was on Medicare and ended up in a nursing home, paid 100% by Medicaid once her trailer was sold. She had no other savings and died broke.
My aunt was also single but was always super frugal. When she retired at 65 she owned a nice house and had retirement savings. She too focused her life on church activities and because of health issues didn't do much more than my mother's friend did. Eventually her house was sold and everything she saved up was used to pay for her nursing home. Medicaid never had to kick in as she died before her assets were totally depleted. She left a tiny sum to her brother but that was it.
So in the end who was better off? I think people view retirement with rose-colored glasses, that those who retire are going to travel the world, etc, but the reality is that many people retire into poor health. Your world gets very small once you have chronic health problems as your days are focused on doctor visits and struggling to stay well. Most chronically-ill elderly I know have similar routines--staying home and puttering around their houses in between medical visits. I look at my own parents (who were like my aunt) and I sometimes I get amused thinking that they might have been the fools. They saved and scrimped their whole lives only to retire into poor health. Getting old can be a great equalizer.
these threads are amusing to me. first they always end up being a screaming match between "liberals" and "conservatives" so by page 4 there isn't much information being shared.
Next it seems everyone "knows" one of these people who are living "la vida loca" while being on public assistance, now maybe these people are real but I have a feeling that the life style has been "enhanced" for the story.
and you find these stories everywhere. I'm a big Disney fan and hang out of some of those forums, once a year we get the "this person is on welfare and food stamps and goes to Disney 4X's a year" thread.
I wish I knew these people cause like I said I volunteer with poverty once a week in Camden NJ, saturday we had our annual Thanksgiving dinner community outreach. No one we met is living any type of life I would want.
I agree, I mean really. I've worked in a shelter. Have either lived or worked around some of the slumiest places one could imagine. I have yet to encounter these poor people living lavishly off the dole. In fact I've seen the exact opposite that it is a miserable existence.
It's pretty clear that there is some embellishing of these stories going on to push an agenda.
There definitely is an asset limit in NY for Medicaid health insurance, but there are some exceptions. Anyone who loses a job and collects unemployment insurance gets one year of Medicaid health insurance, regardless of assets. They could be a billionaire, NY state doesn't check. And, if they get a job and their unemployment payments stop, the Medicaid still continues for the whole year! You could be a billionaire making millions a year, and still be on Medicaid! In NY state.
Aside from the unemployment situation, Medicaid applicants can have up to $840k in home equity, but can only have $14,850 in countable assets.
This is not correct. Those asset limits are not for health insurance which falls under expanded medicaid .that is for regular medicaid which covers long term care.
States that have expanded medicaid like ny and many others have No Asset limits involved in eligibility for health insurance. Look it up again
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