Alternatives to ACA (MediShare, etc.) Your experiences please.

[Dawter]

I'm looking into Christian Healthcare Ministries.

[KaraG]

Originally Posted by matisse12

Some people have obtained health insurance thru a professional organization.

By joining an organization, membership offers their members health insurance.

Is that true? Have you actually done this?

This is something I checked into many years ago. Yes, there are insurance companies that try to get new customers by linking with organizations as a benefit to membership, but I never found any that was group insurance, it was just typical individual insurance you could buy from any agent.

[jdhpa]

Does CHM require no pre-existing conditions? Is there an age limit?

[Dawter]

Pre-Existing conditions are allowed. You can go to their website and they'll send you the information.

[mitchmiller9]

Originally Posted by Sunaimer

Looking to retire early but holding us back is high cost of UnAffordable Care Act. Does anyone here actually have a MediShare or other alternative insurance? If so, can you please share your experiences? Thank you.

Sunaimer: Instead of looking at alternative insurance, you should work with a financial advisor to restructure your income.

For example, buy simple fixed-term annuities to cover your living expenses. Much of the "income" is return-of-capital, which is not part of your MAGI.

If you lament having savings that are earning no income, put the rest of your unqualified savings into lump-sum annuities or zero-coupon bonds. You will pay the tax at the year of maturity. You can stagger the maturity dates to reduce your future tax burden since you'll recognize all the interest for tax purposes at the date of maturity. Another alternative is to buy individual stocks that pay no dividend, if you want to take that risk.

The big risk with this proposal is that Obamacare may not exist in the future. The fifth circuit court of Texas will likely rule against Obamacare after the midterm elections. The new Supreme Court will likely uphold the Texas ruling on appeal (after the appellate court appeal). The end of Obamacare is in sight and what comes after it is uncertain. Beware of plans that don't conform to Obamacare's requirements (like extended Short Term junk plans that you can now roll over annually starting 2019 - I'm already getting cold calls to sell this junk to me). IMHO you should hold off at least another year before retiring if health insurance is a concern.