I disagree with you on one thing...your story IS special. You are in the minority of folks who consciously lived beneath your means and saved the difference, year in and year out. I've always told my kids it's not what you make, it's what you spend that will get you in trouble. I lived with roommates when I was first out of college. Would I have rather had my own place? Sure, but that was a poor choice. Living with the roommates cut one of the biggest costs of a young single person, and allowed me to start saving.
I'm 55, so I'm not in the medicare decision mode yet, and who knows how much it will change in the next 10 years. Nonetheless, I'm curious about one other option (assuming it exists): traditional medicare WITHOUT medigap coverage. It seems like traditional medicare is like the old employer insurance we used to get 40 years ago: an 80/20 plan, with a deductible? Is there no out of pocket max on the 20% the patient pays? For background, I've been using a high deductible health plan for about 15 years, so I pay out of pocket (at discounted rates negotiated by the plan provider) for ordinary care and have the insurance in case anything big comes up. The deductible is currently 7,000 per person, 13,700 for the family as a whole, after which the policy pays for all care as long as you remain in-network. Probably the biggest benefit of the insurance besides eliminating the catastrophic expense problem (the primary role of most forms of insurance) is that the negotiated rates keep the cost down. I mostly carry the dental benefit for the same reason...the negotiated rates keep the cost down. Dental benefits really aren't even insurance, since the total benefit in a year is capped so low ($2000 per year per person) that any difficult problem will leave you exposed to a significant cost.
Comments
I disagree with you on one thing...your story IS special. You are in the minority of folks who consciously lived beneath your means and saved the difference, year in and year out. I've always told my kids it's not what you make, it's what you spend that will get you in trouble. I lived with roommates when I was first out of college. Would I have rather had my own place? Sure, but that was a poor choice. Living with the roommates cut one of the biggest costs of a young single person, and allowed me to start saving.
Post: My Savings Journey
Link to comment from July 19, 2023
I'm 55, so I'm not in the medicare decision mode yet, and who knows how much it will change in the next 10 years. Nonetheless, I'm curious about one other option (assuming it exists): traditional medicare WITHOUT medigap coverage. It seems like traditional medicare is like the old employer insurance we used to get 40 years ago: an 80/20 plan, with a deductible? Is there no out of pocket max on the 20% the patient pays? For background, I've been using a high deductible health plan for about 15 years, so I pay out of pocket (at discounted rates negotiated by the plan provider) for ordinary care and have the insurance in case anything big comes up. The deductible is currently 7,000 per person, 13,700 for the family as a whole, after which the policy pays for all care as long as you remain in-network. Probably the biggest benefit of the insurance besides eliminating the catastrophic expense problem (the primary role of most forms of insurance) is that the negotiated rates keep the cost down. I mostly carry the dental benefit for the same reason...the negotiated rates keep the cost down. Dental benefits really aren't even insurance, since the total benefit in a year is capped so low ($2000 per year per person) that any difficult problem will leave you exposed to a significant cost.
Post: Time to Decide
Link to comment from May 31, 2023