How much is private health insurance for family of 4 in our area? (Seattle: living, costs)

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

Because I posed a hypothetical, not an actual, situation.

It's far more likely that if my husband leaves his job he will transition seamlessly into a different role/industry without having any gap in employment. In the event that he doesn't, however, I need to have a contingency plan based on accurate projections in expenses.

I asked my husband about ACA, but he says "It's broken, it doesn't work, a total failure and Obama knew it would be all along..."

Share this with him. ACA had great promise but was sabotaged every step of the way. https://www.healthinsurance.org/blog...ged-obamacare/

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

I asked my husband about ACA, but he says "It's broken, it doesn't work, a total failure and Obama knew it would be all along..."

That's an exaggeration. Trump has done everything he can to undercut it, but getting rid of it would require a 60-vote super-majority in the Senate, which he doesn't have.

Since Donald Trump took office, his administration has withheld cost-sharing subsidies; ended the individual mandate; backed the law’s repeal in court; slashed outreach funding; temporarily suspended risk-adjustment payments; promoted skimpy health plans; undercut the small-group insurance market; discouraged Medicaid enrollment by adding work requirements; and weakened rules against discrimination of all types.

The fruits of the GOP’s labors are plain to see. The nation’s uninsured rate is climbing again despite the lowest unemployment rate in half a century. That’s not a very good advertisement for an employer-based health insurance system.

Republican sabotage of the ACA has also had the pernicious effect of undermining the private insurance market. Those rates are rising faster than economic growth in part because uncompensated care is again on the upswing and getting piled onto the extra costs employers already shoulder to make up for shortfalls in government reimbursement.

To cope, employers are shifting more costs to families with higher co-pays and deductibles. The result is an affordability crisis and growing public outrage over the high provider prices they’re now exposed to, often through out-of-network charges.

https://www.modernhealthcare.com/opi...-medicare-more

[StealthRabbit]

WA Apple Care would be about $10 / month if your MAGI is below the Cliff.
"$100,400 for a family of 4" (2019)

Mine is $3.31 (for 2 old folks)

I WAS paying $300 / month BEFORE ACA
$1700 / month (for 2) After ACA
$2700 / month after 3 yrs ACA (then we became 'uninsured')

We used Health Sharing ministry ($300 . month for family) Not insurance but it has paid for my friends and family, including cancer, ICU, Brain surgery for niece.

We also use https://www.patientsbeyondborders.com/
$700 RT to Thailand and care is GREAT for operations / treatments. (USA trained Dr's / ~ 1/10th USA prices)

Consider a Private Pay HMO will be $1700 - $2000 / month (with high deductible)

[Returning2USA]

Originally Posted by elkotronics

The medical system in the U.S. is ridiculously overpriced. Greedy doctors, high prices for the doctor's education, greedy medical insurance companies that have to make enough profit to keep investors happy and greedy drug companies are all responsible for this.

It's the biggest reason I'm thinking of retiring somewhere outside of the U.S.

This is one of the reasons I do not want to return to the US.

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by Returning2USA

This is one of the reasons I do not want to return to the US.

How effing pathetic that after giving 40-50 productive years to the world's "most prosperous" country that you would be rewarded with having to flee in order to afford life. I know it's a bit hyperbole, but not completely.

[foodyum]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

Because I posed a hypothetical, not an actual, situation.



I asked my husband about ACA, but he says "It's broken, it doesn't work, a total failure and Obama knew it would be all along..."

I can see why you post on CD with your husband saying uninformed statements about ACA. I hope you will be able to educate him. Agree CHIP with an ACA subsidy would probably be the way to go on your income. I think you can sign up after open enrollment when you loose your insurance form an employment change. Speak with a navigator about your options.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

How effing pathetic that after giving 40-50 productive years to the world's "most prosperous" country that you would be rewarded with having to flee in order to afford life. I know it's a bit hyperbole, but not completely.

Not hyperbole at all. We work for the prosperity of the few.

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by foodyum

I can see why you post on CD with your husband saying uninformed statements about ACA. I hope you will be able to educate him. Agree CHIP with an ACA subsidy would probably be the way to go on your income. I think you can sign up after open enrollment when you loose your insurance form an employment change. Speak with a navigator about your options.

I would not want to take up a professional advisor's time since I'm only working through a hypothetical situation, and a dynamic one at that. Our income could be as little as $50k or as much as $200k (there is a -foreign-based- family business that is beginning to assert itself into our lives... not our legal asset, but will be at some point).

He is uninformed, but not anymore than most anyone else, especially for one who never needed it.

[myname_isborat]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

Next year we will hit 2 major milestones.. becoming mortgage-free and "barista FIRE" (Barista FIRE is a term coined by "Financial Samurai" and other well-known FIRE bloggers to describe individuals who are financially independent with the support of one part-time, minimum wage work like working at a coffee shop), often just for health insurance eligibility...

I am trying to project numbers that include private health insurance in the event that my husband quits his job to pursue a different interest. We've only briefly used private insurance for a couple months when we first got married.. a different time, a different state...

Does anyone have resources or know from experience how much private health care costs for the Seattle/Western WA area?

The one good thing Trumpie has done is brought back short term insurance plans. So you can now get catastrophic insurance at a guaranteed rate for 6months to 3years. We are in a similar position as your family, we have been a FIRE family before it was even a term. Look at United Healthcare and their plan options since they are the most legit company offering these plans from my own research. If you are healthy you will save a ton of dough!

[Returning2USA]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

How effing pathetic that after giving 40-50 productive years to the world's "most prosperous" country that you would be rewarded with having to flee in order to afford life. I know it's a bit hyperbole, but not completely.

I agree.

But on the positive side (for some of us) if I have a serious medical issue I'll go to Bumrungrad hospital in Bangkok.

I read a poster's OP in the retirement thread a couple months ago. He worked for 35 years. Saved, invested. Wanted to leave the rat race (his words) at 55 but medical insurance costs after quitting kept him at his job because he didn't qualify for medicare.

The whole system either drains people, ruins them, or destroys them.

I visit yes, but I don't ever want to come back ever to live.

I'm not negative at all. Just realistic.