Obamacare = early retirement anyone?

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by tookish1

Our $3,000/month cruising budget hinged on health care costs. With pre-existing conditions, we could not have afforded to cruise and pay $1,200+/month for health care. Risking going without was not an option.

With Obamacare now a certainty, a cruising couple making less than $50,000/year from any form of income (no means testing!) will not pay more than 9.5% of income for health insurance ($395/month!)

Whether we like or don't like Obamacare, the economic reality for us, is that retiring and cruising is now possible and I'm wondering if it has had the same effect on anyone else??

[Matt Johnson]

Does the same hold true if you cruise outside the US? Can you purchase an international policy and have the same 9.5%?

[Travelnik]

Oh joy! More mandatory insurance! BFD!

[goboatingnow]

From outside the US looking in that cost of 395 a month looks like similar numbers to other parts of the globe. I don't see my local insurance ( a global company ) going bust and we have community rating and similar to previous poster 30 weeks on pre existing conditions ( no surcharge )

Looks good to me go cruising

Dave

[keepondancin]

If healthcare becomes a smaller issue, the Somali pirates unemployed, get the coast of Venezuela safe again, another storm or two, and the boat market will be booming, and the anchorages will be full again.

[Pete7]

Dave, thank god for the NHS (National Health Service). It would worry me cruising the US if something went wrong.

What happens in the US if you don't have insurance and something serious goes wrong like a badly broken leg?

Pete

[perchance]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Dave, thank god for the NHS (National Health Service). It would worry me cruising the US if something went wrong.

What happens in the US if you don't have insurance and something serious goes wrong like a badly broken leg?

Pete

They take you out back and shoot you...........like a horse

[twrdocktor]

Not sure why some feel they are paying for others to go cruising under the new plan. It's an insurance policy that clients pay into. In Canada we pay about 120 bucks (dollars) a month. Over the last several decades the cost has stayed at about 12% of GDP. But to think that someone is paying for someone else only in terms of healthcare is naive or disingenuous. I don't use the roads much, or the bridges but have to pay within my taxes. I do get benefits from your kids education, but I pay the taxes, and the list could go on. The idea of using the red herring of "socialism" as an evil program brought on by one political party is not well thought out. The USA like most nations embraced Socialism when you came together as a 'community' back in 1776. To cleave off parts of a countries programs because someone doesn't like it, opens them for others to do the same. As a neighbour, I would say that if your defense budget was reduced by 20%, you'd all be out if debt and have balanced budgets. That's what should be talked about.

[Travelnik]

If anyone really believes that mandatory insurance will stay low cost, please ride your unicorn over to my place...I'd like to actually see one!

[SunDevil]

As a healthy guy who did get a little sick 6 months ago, it is good to have some insurance. The issue is that it is still a mess. They needed to get rid of the 'in-network' and 'out-of-network' doctors, setup a group plan for 'early-retirees' to buy into as well as entrepreneurs and small business owners, and have a lifetime HSA account attached to every person. You work and save money in your HSA, and then you have a large cushion of money once you are older.

The way it is/was doesn't work, Obamacare is a first step, but it would have been good to do a few things differently.

But, to the OP, yes I would feel better retiring early if I knew what the costs of health insurance would be, and that I wasn't being gouged. Plus, if other people are healthy and don't need to use the healthcare industry as much, costs will come down.

[twrdocktor]

In Canada it's been mandatory since 1967 and the costs are the same since then. (Adjusted for inflation). To see a nation that tells the world how good they have it, and have as many people as sick and have healthcare unavailable is hypocritical. Cuba has better healthcare. Why are Americans so tough on having a healthy prosperous nation.

[cfarrar]

None of us are going to change the law, but threads like this could be really valuable to U.S. cruisers if we focus on the practical implications of the law.

Does anyone know whether the insurance policies available through the Affordable Health Care Act (through the insurance exchanges, I assume?) will cover Americans cruising outside the U.S.?

[foolishsailor]

Originally Posted by dsmastern

If anyone really believes that mandatory insurance will stay low cost, please ride your unicorn over to my place...I'd like to actually see one!

There must be alot of unicorns in northern europe i guess.

[SunDevil]

Originally Posted by twrdocktor

In Canada it's been mandatory since 1967 and the costs are the same since then. (Adjusted for inflation). To see a nation that tells the world how good they have it, and have as many people as sick and have healthcare unavailable is hypocritical. Cuba has better healthcare. Why are Americans so tough on having a healthy prosperous nation.

Because we see working and making money as the only way to be responsible. If I dropped everything and went sailing, but the 'government' paid for my healthcare, my parents, co-workers, brother-in-law, and some friends would hate me for being a lazy slacker. To me, that is the very scary part of this debate that doesn't get brought up. I can't take a year or two off to see the world, I can't quit my job to start a new business, I can't move to a new city without having a job lined up somehow, and I can't spend time with my family for a month or two...

But a CT scan costs $4000 without insurance, and $1000 with it. And since I have an HRA account plan that is limited at $1500, I didn't have to pay anything, but it all goes away if I don't work for my employer anymore.

[LakeSuperior]

It is unfortunate that Obama care did not address the one single fundamental issue that underlies the cost of healthcare. What I mean is that this summer my insurance bill for 60 minutes in the emergency room for 3 shots, an xray, and a CT scan for broken ribs was $3000.00

Total contact time with a Dr about 8 minutes. Total time to read xrays and CT scan 10 minutes max.

No math I can do gets me to $3000.00. The US medical industry needs serious competition built into the system. Force everyone to have a 10% of gross income deductable so they will shop for service. Double or triple the number of medical students.