Best retirement planning advice you can get

[Captain Save]

Any time you have an industry that is heavily tampered by the Fed - housing, college loan guarantees, and healthcare finance, you then necessarily have runaway train inflation in that industry.

Capitalism and Socialism cannot be commingled. When attempted, the damage done to the capitalism side is such that ever more socialism is demanded in an attempt to correct the damage done. That cycle continues until such time as socialism has quietly quashed capitalism.

Isn't our military the best in the world? last I check we all pay for that. The problem with our current government programs is that we don't demand that they work .. one side wants to take advantage of them .. the other side wants to get rid of it.. .no one demands that our government make them more efficient... Many times the corruption is right in front of our face.. public information that we all can see but out agenda is in the right place...

[Nutria]

Isn't our military the best in the world? last I check we all pay for that.

What does that have to do with the competition between people with different economic worldviews?

[disneysteve]

As a physician, you by default are seeing dread disease situations where ACA actually helped. Certainly it has helped a lot of people - heavy users of medical services in particular - but for the rest of us it is an absolute ripoff.

The 2 specific examples I gave are a personal friend and a relative. Neither of those stories has anything to do with the fact that I happen to be a doctor.

requiring millions of people to pay outrageous prices for crap coverage that is worse than what they had before.

What about the 20 million people who had no coverage before because they couldn't afford it? When the ACA went into effect, we got easily a couple hundred patients who were either totally new to our practice or old patients who hadn't been in for years because they had no insurance. They aren't all people who are "heavy users of medical services". They're mostly just regular folks who haven't been able to afford care until now.

I'm not arguing that the ACA is perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than what came before it - which was absolutely nothing.

[GoodSteward]

I can tell you that both of those people are extremely nervous about the future because they have no idea what they will do if their ACA coverage goes away and they can no longer afford insurance.

On the flip side I have a friend who had a back injury and was on workmans comp for a couple years. He was getting around 800$ a month in workman comp checks. His wife made around 10$ an hour. That was all they had. He applied for ACA, cheapest he was offered.

800$ a month......

What sense does that make?

[disneysteve]

He was getting around 800$ a month in workman comp checks. His wife made around 10$ an hour. That was all they had. He applied for ACA, cheapest he was offered.

800$ a month......

What sense does that make?

I don't know much about the rate side of the insurance coverage but that certainly doesn't sound right. A couple only making 30K ought to be eligible for a subsidy. That should bring their cost of coverage well under that quote. Something's wrong with that story.

[GoodSteward]

I'm not arguing that the ACA is perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than what came before it - which was absolutely nothing.

At the cost of everybody elses insurance premiums going up as well, to the point where businesses are just eating the yearly 2k$ fine because it is cheaper than actually providing insurance.

This ACA isn't free. We had a government deficit BEFORE they started handing out subsidized medical. It's a great idea, but it's like me trying to give all homeless people food. It isn't sustainable, and so far from what I've seen the people who couldn't afford health insurance STILL can't afford it. I am sure there are plenty who can now, but it's a small percentage to those who couldn't(From my experience). Remember, a lot of those people who can't afford health insurance are at companies that helped pay the premium anyway, and still couldn't afford it because it was a lower paying job. ACA premiums are not lower than company offered options to my knowledge, so that doesn't make it any easier. I've not done an A/B comparison myself, but the word I hear from those who have is it is a mixed bag for sure. To me, this has a negative long-term effect due to not being able to financially support it. I mean come on, we can't even financially support what we were doing before we took on medical(as a country).

Another thing to wonder is how much are they really saving by going to the Dr for checkups with copays and premiums vs Just saving the same amount in premiums and paying cash as you go. On top of the premiums are prescription costs. People assume just because you can have a health insurance coverage you also can afford to use it.

[GoodSteward]

I don't know much about the rate side of the insurance coverage but that certainly doesn't sound right. A couple only making 30K ought to be eligible for a subsidy. That should bring their cost of coverage well under that quote. Something's wrong with that story.

I wondered that too and questioned him on it. He said that is what he was given with his income entered in. Maybe the back injury made it worse?

Anybody actually checked to see how much it would be?

[disneysteve]

from what I've seen the people who couldn't afford health insurance STILL can't afford it.

20 million Americans have insurance today and didn't before the ACA. That's not an insignificant number. Yes, there are still 25-30 million uninsured, but that's a lot better than 45-50 million like there was before.

Is the coverage sustainable? Perhaps not. But we need to find some way to get everyone covered that is sustainable.

People assume just because you can have a health insurance coverage you also can afford to use it.

This is a great point and has long been a problem. This is not unique to the ACA. And it's definitely a real problem. I see it a great deal in my patient population as I work in a poor area. To many of those people, even a relatively small copay is a barrier to care. For example, I got a call back one day after seeing a patient asking if I could change a prescription I had given him because it was too expensive. I was surprised because I thought what I had ordered was pretty cheap. I called the pharmacy to change the medicine and asked how much the original prescription was. It was $13. But for him, that was unaffordable. $30 or $50 copays are totally out of reach.

[GoodSteward]

I just went to the ACA website and filled in the info to get a quick quote. Cheapest family plan was $900$ a month with $7k$ deductible indiv, 14k family. Didn't seem to cover any out of network, and my main major hospital in town isn't in network.

Completely worthless. Other plans are not a ton better, and easily doubled the monthly premium.

Through my job family coverage is $420$ a month. Thankfully I still qualify for state insurance for my kids, and with having a new baby I just got bumped back down even more to just $16$ a month for all 4 kids, and nearly 100% covered on everything. <- that is good gov insurance.

ACA <- Terrible!

*I edited this so Nutria will sleep better tonight.

[disneysteve]

Anybody actually checked to see how much it would be?

http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/

Here's the calculator. It depends on where you live and family size and stuff.

I just looked and we can get a silver plan for $847/month according to that calculator.

[GoodSteward]

The ACA isn't 100% bad, and helped in a lot of ways as we have discussed before.

Let's also not forget a large portion of people probably got insurance because they had a financial gun to their head in the form of big tax bills for not getting it. You'd see 401ks increase if the Gov imposed the same regulations for those. Get fined 1k$ a year for not putting into your 401k! That'd wake people up.

This is a great point and has long been a problem. This is not unique to the ACA. And it's definitely a real problem. I see it a great deal in my patient population as I work in a poor area. To many of those people, even a relatively small copay is a barrier to care. For example, I got a call back one day after seeing a patient asking if I could change a prescription I had given him because it was too expensive. I was surprised because I thought what I had ordered was pretty cheap. I called the pharmacy to change the medicine and asked how much the original prescription was. It was $13. But for him, that was unaffordable. $30 or $50 copays are totally out of reach.

You are right, it isn't just the ACA. However, typically the people who didn't have it before, I would imagine, surely have trouble even using it.

If I was forced to get isnurance I would try one of those christian medical sharing businesses. I'm sure it isn't perfect, but it qualfies to get the IRS off your back and is probably as useful as the rediculous plan I just got offfered by the government website.

[GoodSteward]

http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/

Here's the calculator. It depends on where you live and family size and stuff.

I just looked and we can get a silver plan for $847/month according to that calculator.

I know why my friend got 800$ and why I got 900 cheapest, 1500 normal. I have company offered insurance, and his wife did too. You get no help if the company you work for offers insurance. That makes more sense as you have to pay full price for the plan.

For me a silver plan would be 348$. That's good to know. What I don't understand is how is the government affording 14k$ a year to pay the difference. That's nuts.

[TexasHusker]

Isn't our military the best in the world? last I check we all pay for that. The problem with our current government programs is that we don't demand that they work .. one side wants to take advantage of them .. the other side wants to get rid of it.. .no one demands that our government make them more efficient... Many times the corruption is right in front of our face.. public information that we all can see but out agenda is in the right place...

The military is not a good analogy my friend. It is a wholly government endeavor, as it should be.

If you think the Fed can compete with capitalism, go visit your local VA Hospital. Better yet, ask a few of your veteran friends if they would prefer to go there.

Socialism and Capitalism don't mix.

[TexasHusker]

http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/

Here's the calculator. It depends on where you live and family size and stuff.

I just looked and we can get a silver plan for $847/month according to that calculator.

That calculator isn't accurate - not even close.

[TexasHusker]

I'm not arguing that the ACA is perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than what came before it - which was absolutely nothing.

That's really weird, because I had health insurance before ACA and it was cheaper by far. And there were 8 insurance companies in my market offering individual plans. Now, we are down to two.

Not sure what planet you're living on these days.